A LinkedIn post by marketing specialist Pragya has reignited debate around gender bias and the “motherhood penalty” in hiring, especially in senior roles. Detailing her experience during a 14-minute telephonic interview for a CMO position with a consumer brand, she wrote that nearly all the questions centred around her family, none on her qualifications or achievements.
For the first 11 minutes, she was asked to summarise her 11-year career. But what followed, she claimed, was a barrage of personal questions from the company’s promoter: “Who is in my family? How many kids do I have? What’s their age? Which school does the elder one go to? Who takes care of them when I’m away? What does my husband do? How’s his startup doing? And how would I commute to the office?”
“There were no questions on revenue I handled, businesses I grew, industries I worked in, my achievements, my failures, or the challenging projects I’ve delivered,” she wrote.
The next day, she received a one-word update from HR: “Rejected.”
“I did not want that job either, but think of the women who don’t have a choice.”
While she made it clear that she wasn’t reliant on the job, her post called attention to a larger pattern: “This post is not about my accolades, it is about the #Discrimination or #MaternityTax that women tend to pay at workplaces, just because they reproduce.”
The post went viral within hours, drawing responses from working professionals, founders, and hiring managers—many of them women who have faced similar bias.
“The motherhood penalty is very real”
One user commented, “This is both heartbreaking and infuriating. The motherhood penalty is very real, and it shows up in ways that are so normalised that it’s almost expected.”
Another user noted the sharp contrast in expectations from men and women: “It is funny how fathers are never asked the same questions.”
Some also pointed out the irony in how personal life stages are treated as liabilities. “It’s not only invasive and intrusive but also goes on to show how stereotyping still pervades through organisations,” one commenter said.
“I’ve been on both sides, founder and rejected mother”
In another comment, one user recalled being rejected during final interviews because she had a 2-month-old baby. “It deeply hurt. I carried that grudge for years,” she wrote. Now a founder herself, she confessed that she sometimes finds herself asking similar questions: “It’s not bias. It’s the reality of how much juggling a new mother has to do.”
Still, she emphasised the need for long-term solutions: “I dream of a time where we don’t have to choose between building a company and building a family, with guilt on either side.”
“Most CXO roles I’ve interviewed for are held by men”
Pragya concluded her post by noting that most senior roles she has applied for, across both startups and legacy firms, are still dominated by men. “While I have no bias against male professionals, it appears that this particular role will also be filled by a male candidate,” she added.
