Now for discrimination against singles in the workplace in Australia. Like the USA, an employer can’t ask about marital status etc, although some do. I work for the government and singles are treated the same as marrieds, overtime is an option for everyone and you can refuse it.

People with children don’t even get preference for when they take their holidays, eg if I want to take my vacation breaks during the school holidays, I can.

Where it falls down is that sometimes people have to go interstate for work and the singles and childless are often pressured into this. There seems to be this idea that as a single you have no significant others. The people you are allowed time off for for caring and bereavement are basically your parents. I had three days bereavemnet leave when my grandmother died recently, but if other very dear people to me need caring for or they pass away, I would not get the leave, eg nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and close friends.

We need to get past the idea that the “norm” is still married with kids.

Re the topic of your post: Good Lord, I am a partner in a law firm right here in the USA — not China — and these sorts of judgments are made every time we hire a new attorney! The other side of the coin is that as a single woman I am ALWAYS expected to pick up the slack for my married colleagues, even if I significantly “outrank” them in age and experience. Bottom line: a woman’s marital status and reproductive status affect her career. I don’t mean to be cantankerous — really I don’t — but if anyone thinks that the existence of anti-discrimination laws in this country has done anything to change this, they are sadly mistaken.

Recently I missed nearly a week of work due to a cold, and I found that when I returned to work I felt much calmer.