The Interview Question That Refuses to Retire
Tradition, intellect, and modern ambition A job interview, at least in theory, is a measured conversation about competence. It is meant to assess skill, clarity of thought, and the promise of what one might contribute. Yet, for many women in India, it still carries a familiar detour, one that slips, almost casually, into the personal. “Are you married?” “Do you plan to have children?” “How will you manage work and home?” These are not always asked with hostility. Often, they arrive softened by politeness, framed as concern, or even curiosity. But their persistence reveals something deeper than intent: it reflects a way of thinking that continues to locate a woman’s professional identity within the boundaries of her personal life. To read this as a simple story of bias would be to miss its complexity. It is not merely about exclusion; it is about inheritance. We carry forward social assumptions long after we have outgrown the contexts that produced them. Education, while transformative,...