Employment Discrimination Against Mothers in Des Moines, Iowa

When employers' sole point in refusing to hire someone is that the person did not relinquish her children to daycare, that is discrimination-- and a major factor in employment discrimination in Des Moines, Iowa.

When I arrived in Iowa, I went to an employment agency for assistance in finding and obtaining a job in this new, unfamiliar city. After reviewing my application and resume, the interviewer first raved about my "excellent qualifications and skills" in terms of education and previous work experience, adding that at the time job openings in my field were plentiful-- and then suggested I go to Social Services for financial assistance.

I did not come to Des Moines in need of financial assistance; but as job-searching proved fruitless and my savings began to wear thin, it took hitting many dead-ends in my search for full-time employment to go the full range from stunned to frustrated to defensive, as the experiences of numerous interviews finally registered.

In each interview, when prospective employers requested an explanation for "gaps in employment history," my reply signaled the end of the interview. Regardless of education, experience, qualifications for the specific job, and the employers' positive feedback on each of these areas, upon learning that my employment gaps were due to taking care of my own children, as well as homeschooling, that was where their interest faded. I was told that this made me unemployable, by local standards. A word of caution to any newcomers to this locale: you would have a better chance of gaining employment if your gaps were explained as being from doing time in the penitentiary, rather than from putting time into raising your family.

I've seen that in this locale, where people are expected to place their six-week-old infants in a daycare center, children are not considered just-cause for even the slightest adjustment to one's life, and certainly not an adequate "excuse" for being out of the workforce. Even young married women whose stay-at-home-Mom status is a chosen agreement between themselves and their husbands to be the best and right arrangement, are treated as if they were nothing more than "lazy bums who do not want to Work." Young moms who believe their place is at home with their children are confronted by virtually everybody insisting that they are in the wrong, that that's not the way it is done "here."

I'm not sure who is in a more difficult position-- young mothers who have everyone on their backs trying to force them to allow someone else to raise their children in order to "work," or non-locals like myself who are trying to get back into the workforce after years of placing our families as our main priority, with work history having been our secondary consideration. I only hope that the young moms (and the dads) continue to hold the courage of their priorities, despite the opposition, and continue to realize that they are doing the right thing.