Job Discrimination: Being a Plus Size Mother Prevents Me from Finding Employment

Ever since I could remember I have been a person of size. At the age of 5 years old I weighed nearly 100lbs and was 4 foot 5 inches tall. Walking into Mrs.Alshouse's classroom I still remember other parents saying to each other "she's in kindergarten?! look how big she is!". Luckily I was too young to quite understand the comment, yet simply stored it away in my mind to analyze later as an adult. Growing up an active overweight kid I never imagined that one day having a child of my own and being a plus size person would compromise my chances of becoming employed.

A few months ago I was given the opportunity to interview for a retail position at a high-end art gallery. Being a lover of many forms of art, I jumped at the chance to do something that I personally have a passion for. Going into the interview I was confident. I was dressed rather nicely, was equipped with extra resumes, I gave a firm hand shake, had uninterrupted eye contact, wonderful posture and was extremely articulate. Yet all of these well practiced, thought through techniques wouldn't matter merely because I was a proud Mother of an 18 month old son.

Half way through my interview the woman stopped the flow of our conversation to ask about my son. Beaming with pride I told her his age, and that he's a ball of energy that keeps me on my toes. Much to my surprise the woman then asked and I quote" I don't know if this even legal for me to ask, but do you have childcare? Who watches your son when you are at work?". Initially my inherited smart ass gene told me to say "oh, well I call in when I'm irresponsible and don't have someone to watch my child leaving my employer to fend for themselves." but I didn't I told her that I have a wonderful sitter who is readily available whenever I need him. A few minutes later the interview ended, I was told I would be receiving a phone call if I had been selected for the position. I never received a phone call and I never thought that being a Mother would be cause for job discrimination.

The 2nd instance of job discrimination happened just this week. I found an ad on craigslist for a doctors assistant position. In the ad it explained that they would train you to work in the office. No where in the ad did it say "no fat chicks", so I promptly sent my resume hoping to get an opportunity to interview for the job. A few days passed and I received a phone call from the physicians wife, she was holding a group interview and I was invited to attend! I had only been to one group interview before this one and I did receive the job that time, I was optimistic that I could weed out my competition and what better way than at a group interview?

The day of the interview came and I showed up early. I noticed that all the ladies working in the office were in good physical shape and very personable. When the interview started much emphasis was put on health and teaching good healthy living habits. They also kept telling us that they wanted a nice person with an outgoing personality who was really good with kids yet during a group interview their was very little time to show off your "outgoing personality", I was getting the feeling that no one of size was going to get this job. I could look around the room and see those of us who met their physical expectations and those of us who didn't. Before leaving each candidate had a picture taken of them with a digital camera for "reference" and we were told that we would receive a phone call or a letter in the coming days. One day later I received my letter, the second paragraph starting with "unfortunately", that's all I needed to know.