Question

Rahina's interview for a position as the receptionist at a health clinic was conducted by two men, the clinic administrator and a doctor. She was young and wearing a wedding band, so the interviewers assumed she was married. They seemed to be very concerned about how long she would stay in the position. They asked a lot of questions about her long-term plans, and the manager said, "What about your family?" Rahina sensed that he was trying to fi nd out if she had children or planned to have them. that he was trying to find out if she had children or planned to have them. that he was trying to find out if he knew that would be an illegal question to ask, so she simply said, "My family would be delighted if I came to work here."

1. Are the interviewers entitled to know about Rahina's family?

2. Did Rahina handle the question well?

Answer 1

1. The interviewers attempted to learn more about Rahina’s family because they were concerned if the marital status of Rahina could impact her working in her job profile in the Organization. This was illegal because in a way, it attempted not to be fair to Rahina thereby discriminating her on the basis of her gender and marital status. It would hamper the fairness in the employment process and therefore, the interviewers were not entitled to know about Rahina’s family.

2. Rahina turned out to be a smart woman. She dealt the situation well when she sensed that the questions so posed to her were, moving the off the track, towards illegality. However, on the face of it, she still obliged to the question that was asked to her, without being party to answering the inappropriate question in a direct manner. She was polite and diplomatic thus.