The most 'inappropriate' interview questions women have been asked 

More than 40 per cent of British women said they'd faced 'inappropriate' questioning, compared to only 12 per cent of men, according to a poll of more than 2,800 British workers by the graduate recruitment app, Debut. 

Of course, under British law, employers do not have the right to ask candidates about their health, age, love life or whether they have children – and yet 27 per cent of women polled they’d been asked about their relationship status, while only eight percent of male respondents said they had been asked the same question.

Who are these questions about?

In a different job interview, I was once asked: "How do you think your current boss would feel about you taking this job?"

Who cares? 

None of these questions  - about religion, procreation or colleagues - had to do with me, or my qualifications. And entering the workplace on these conditions – where our personal lives are immediately part of our professional ones – puts women at a disadvantage.

Intrigued, I asked female colleagues and fellow mothers for the best – or is it worst? – questions they’d been asked in job interviews. Enjoy. Or, perhaps, despair.

Relationships

 "Are you married?"

“What does your boyfriend do for a living?”

 “Are your parents divorced?”

“What do your parents do for a living?”

“When I told them I'd worked abroad, I was asked if I'd been in a relationship at the time and had gone away with my boyfriend.”

“’How do you feel your husband will feel about you taking this course, and will you have the time given your new family commitments?’ This was a question from a major university when I was applying to do a business masters.”

“I've been asked, if I live on my own/parents/boyfriend. If I have a boyfriend, was it serious and could I see a future with them. Would I marry them and would I then want children.“

Family-friendly? Not quite

“I was once asked if I was planning to have children. The interviewer then tried to justify it which almost made it worse. He clumsily went on to say that obviously it wouldn't affect their decision (clearly did or he wouldn't have asked) but as a small business owner, he needed to know because of budget and he didn't want to take someone on just to lose them and recruit someone else.”

“ We are looking for flexibility, how will you manage looking after a child alongside work?”

Not a question, but a statement: “Well, we like a young, single lady, less likely to need maternity leave.”

“I once interviewed for a new role within my existing company, which involved some foreign travel. When asked if this was ok I said yes, but highlighted that I was due to start a course of IVF that might mean I couldn't fly for one week every three to four months. The interviewer - a woman - said: 'what the hell use to me are you pregnant?' Then followed up with 'why would you throw away your career like that?' I didn't get the new job. And a month later my company made me redundant.”

Can you cope with… ?

“How will you cope if someone swears?”

“I was asked how I would manage on the extremely low salary they were offering.”

 “I was asked that would I find it hard to manage a team of all guys..seeing as I was a woman..I just laughed out loud. .”

“It came up in conversation during an interview that I'd recently been to Spain and seen the Moors and Christians festival, to which the interviewer exclaimed 'You're not religious, are you?'.”

"How will you get to work in the snow?"

Have you been asked an inappropriate question in a job interview? Tell us on Twitter @TeleWonderWomen