Opinions from the gallery if you would.

[salterma]

Should females who may become pregnant be allowed to join the army.

Should single mothers be allowed the same choice of job positions as married mothers?

Should single mothers be allowed to work in jobs that "may" be hazardous?

Now for the big question.

Would it make any difference if it was a single father?

Comments

[jess_faraday]

(1) Yes.

(2) I don't understand why these are questions. People who understand and are willing to make the logistical commitments to a job should be allowed to take the job, whatever their marital or parenthood status.

(3) As for hazard, it's hazardous just walking out your front door, and many deadly accidents happen inside the home. Life is risky, and doesn't discriminate with regard to parenthood, single or otherwise.

As for jobs involving exposure to hazardous machinery/chemicals/conditions, etc., the risks should be made known to anyone applying for the job, and anyone accepting the job should be made to sign a document stating their understanding of this.

[salterma]

They are questions because I've run into the last question. In Canada there are a large number of laws designed to protect the rights of women in the workplace since employers have traditionally shied away from female employees where there was a risk of losing time to maternity, or where there was risk of physical injury. Often less qualified men were hired as a result. Single fathers are still sufficiently a minority that the laws and lobby groups are conspicuously absent, and I've found myself unable to take my employment in the directions I'd like to because they don't want to deal with the possible hassles.

[jess_faraday]

I've never heard of men losing employment opportunities because of dependent children--it saddens me to learn that it happens. In the US it's illegal for employers to ask about marital or parental status, so the issue isn't supposed to come up at all. Of course it still does. Is the law the same in Canada?

[salterma]

All of our course and tour applications are subject to the approval of a merit board. They're closed door affairs, and they know that I'm a single father. Just two weeks ago I was filling out paperwork for the purposes of insurance in case of accidental death that listed all dependants and care-takers in the family. The law is the same, but just try proving that the law has been broken.