Beyond the Motherhood Penalty: Does Degree of Caregiving Responsibility Affect Job Discrimination?

Discrimination claims stemming from family or caregiving responsibilities have increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Unfortunately, little research has examined family responsibility discrimination and past studies often confound parent and caregiver status. Drawing on theory, we hypothesize that primary caregivers will experience more discrimination than non-primary caregivers and non-parents because of perceived performance expectations and personal traits. Due to stereotypes, caregivers will be viewed as less competent, committed, available, and agentic, but warmer than non-primary caregivers and non-parents. Further, gender will interact with caregiver status to predict performance expectations and traits, which will in turn lead to biased hiring decisions. In a within-subjects experiment, 118 participants rated six job applicants (who varied on caregiving status and gender) on anticipated competence, commitment and availability, perceived agency and warmth, suitability for hire and recommend...