I've got an interview coming up for a position that I'd really love to have. Although I don't know who the other candidates are, I suspect that I am a contender. However, what is going to happen when I waddle in to my interview more than 8 months pregnant?
The evidence I've encountered in my very circumscribed review* points to pregnancy (and motherhood status generally) as a bit of a double-whammy when it comes to employment, leading to downward biases of both task competence (except maybe in "nurturing" professions like nursing) and work commitment. Given that the position I hope to receive has flexible hours and is not a managerial position, I am not as bad off as I might be. However, it's pretty awful to realize that I will likely be working against an automatic bias. It is even more disconcerting to know that my partner has been able to use the same familial status, married with child on the way, as an asset in his professional life.
How should I deal with this issue in my interview? Although they cannot legally ask me about my familial status, it will be obvious. Should I raise the issue myself instead of waiting to see if they bring it up? What should I say? Should I state explicitly that I recognize that my pending motherhood status might affect their assessment of me? Then what?
*See Ridgeway and Correll for starters.
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