Despite a large proportion of working mothers in the American workforce, research suggests that negative stereotypes and discrimination against working mothers continue to exist. In a set of two experimental studies, the current paper examined subtle discrimination against non-pregnant, working mothers in different hiring settings. In Study 1, using a between-subject field experiment and applying for geographically dispersed jobs with manipulated resumes, we found evidence for subtle discrimination, such that mothers received more negativity in callback messages than women without children, men without children, and fathers. They were also rejected more quickly than women without children and fathers. In Study 2, using a more controlled experimental paradigm, we tested our hypothesis in a hypothetical interview evaluation setting. We found that mothers faced more interpersonal hostility across different job types as compared to women without children. Together, these studies highlight the presence of subtle discrimination against working mothers at different stages of the hiring process.

尽管美国劳动力中有很大比例的职业母亲，但研究表明，对职业母亲的负面刻板印象和歧视仍然存在。在一组两项实验研究中，当前的论文检查了在不同招聘环境中对未怀孕的职业母亲的微妙歧视。在研究 1 中，使用跨学科实地实验并通过操纵简历申请地理位置分散的工作，我们发现了微妙歧视的证据，例如，母亲在回电信息中收到的消极情绪比没有孩子的女性、没有孩子的男性和父亲要多。她们也比没有孩子和父亲的女性更快被拒绝。在研究 2 中，使用更可控的实验范式，我们在假设的访谈评估环境中检验了我们的假设。我们发现，与没有孩子的女性相比，母亲在不同工作类型中面临更多的人际敌意。总之，这些研究强调了在招聘过程的不同阶段存在对职业母亲的微妙歧视。