Women are only slightly more likely to have a gap on their CV than men, and yet they face the harshest judgment for it, says new research.

The reasons for a career gap – defined as time away from work for six months or more – vary, from childcare and health issues to travel. But because women are more likely than men to take time off due to childcare (38% of women who’d taken a career break of six months or more cited childcare as the reason, compared to just 11% of men), we’re facing judgment and questions about our parenthood plans in interviews, despite this being against the law.

Applied’s survey of 2,000 people found that nearly one in five women (18%) have been asked whether they have children or if they plan to have children in the future during the recruitment process. Among senior managers, this number rose to two in five (40%).

That these questions are still being asked suggests a lingering stigma attached to women taking time away from work for childcare reasons, but also judgment about career gaps as a whole. That’s something we should question – why should needing to take a momentary break from work automatically be seen as an issue?

Women face greater risk of ‘career gap stigma’, says study