I think you're putting the cart before the horse
In my experience the more 'radical feminist types' tend to have a bit more intelligence and integrity. It's Tracey from accounts, who's late every day and shit at her work who's the first to HR.

The system put in place to protect wimmin is open to abuse, and is abused, to the point where if you get the wrong confluence of employee and people in HR, you are fucked.

I've learnt from bitter bitter experience what can happen, and I refuse to put myself in that situation again.
So if I have a female candidate that is borderline, I'm not going to take a chance, and I feel perfectly at ease with myself in doing so.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Sun 13 Jun 2010, 20:34, 1 reply)

On a similar but different note, I can understand why a small company might think twice about hiring a young woman of childbearing age. I worked for a small company in a specialised field and they needed to recruit from a shallow pool of people with relevant experience. When a key person (one of a management team of three working under the owner/boss) went on maternity leave, it was bloody difficult for them to recruit.

Money's not the issue - the government pay new mum's wages while her job is kept open - the problem is that you have to get someone to cover for a six month period. Then, if the sprog-dropper feels like it, she can choose to take a further six months off. It leaves things in limbo for what seems like forever.

Not saying it's right, but I am saying that in that position I would try to hire a male unless the female candidate was much, much better, or I had plans to impregnate her myself.
(slowly play it cool, Trig, Sun 13 Jun 2010, 21:23, closed)

yep
there needs to be a solution for this, and it is to give and enforce the same parental leave rights for both parents.

Not the Harmen route of ever increasing differences of employers liabilities between the sexes, it's madness.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Sun 13 Jun 2010, 21:44, closed)

Sad isn't it?
That until the solution is worked out, that it's women who'll have to live with the thin end of that wedge. You know, people like me who have no plans to have children and hate the little shits and would still like to get a good job. We just become part of the statistics, because of course every woman wants children or is likely to get knocked up
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 9:56, closed)

I think one part of the solution is dead simple to implement. When someone takes maternity leave, they have to state in advance how long they are going to be off for. At the moment you can say you're taking 26 weeks, and then 19 weeks into your leave you can change your mind. That's really nice for the new parent, but a burden on the employer. A bit like being able to take your weekend on Tuesday and Wednesday, as long as you give notice.

In the case I've alluded to above the woman was a lazy bitch who asked for a ridiculous pay rise whilst on maternity leave - I suspect it was a (hamfisted) attempt to start building a constructive dismissal case. Dealing with her was difficult per se. It might be colouring my judgement.
(slowly play it cool, Trig, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 14:01, closed)