“Because I am childfree, my personal time isn’t valued.”

Denise, 30, USA

I’ve worked with parents in every job that I’ve had and am often forced to cover their time away or pickup extra responsibilities because I am childfree and my personal time isn’t valued.

However, the most unfairly I have been treated came during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was working as a receptionist for a busy orthodontic practice and after closing to the public for a month, we began to reopen to care for patients.

During our closure, we implemented work-from-home tools for answering phones and emails, scheduling, payment processing, etc; everything needed for my job. At reopening, myself and my direct coworker, another childfree woman with the same duties, were expected to be back in the office full time. We requested to alternate days to limit exposure, as both of us had elderly and immune-compromised family members at home. This would mean that even though both of our jobs could be done fully remote, one of us would work remote while the other would be in person and switch every other day.

This request was denied while multiple others whose entire job it was to see patients in person to deliver treatment were allowed to “work from home” because they had children and didn’t want to risk exposure. Our availability to treat patients was greatly reduced because of this.

My coworker and I came to work everyday, doing the same job we could have done at home while employees with children remained at home. I resigned a few weeks later.

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