I'm busy job hunting at the moment and boy does that open up a whole new Pandora's box!

I've had my brush with feminism in the past, but have since learned to tone my views down a bit for the sake of actually getting along with people (read: men). And so far it's been good.

But boy, oh boy, have my beliefs been challenged these past few weeks. Because of one little (innocent?) question that every recruiter or potential employer keeps asking me:

"So, when do you intend on having children?"

Subtext: So, when will you stop becoming useful to us/the world/as an individual with dreams & ambitions?

I mean, YES, of course children is in the (near-ish) future for me as a woman. And YES I'll be off on maternity leave for a few months. But that's just one of the facts of life. I mean, somehow the population has to grow! And it doesn't change anything with regards to my skills, my talents and my ambitions.

Call it naivety, but I truly thought that we had come further by now, to not just see women as breeding units anymore, but as people with something to offer besides children. And anyone who knows me will know I'm crazy about children and would LOVE to have some of my own, but I don't see how that would cause me to negate my studies (which took 4 years) as well as the 3 years I've spent working as a semi-slave in order to get my qualification.

And it seems it doesn't get better once you actually have the children and will no longer be having more. Then you get asked things like "Well, how will you handle it when one of the children get sick?". But I've yet to hear of a man (who already has children) to be asked the same question. Because "it's not his responsibility", I suppose.

This country has the most ridiculous laws against discrimination; one example is that you can't discriminate against someone with Aids (who will definitely stop being productive a few years down the line). However nothing is being done to stop this blatant discrimination against women.

Go figure.