We talk to Ali O’Neill at comparejewellery.com about why women are taking their wedding rings off at work!
Weddings on Female First
Why would wearing a wedding ring make women fearful of damaging their employment prospects?
According to our results, the majority of women who took their ring off for work reasons did so because they felt it gave out signals about their relationship status; and they wanted to avoid being ‘pigeonholed’ by an employer, or risk harming their chances of getting a new job or promotion. It’s clear that many women fear employers thinking they may not be as dedicated to a role if they are at the point in life where having a family may be an option, and so felt that removing their ring would help to lessen the risk of any assumptions being made.
Why would a women take off her wedding ring at work or when out socialising?
This one was quite surprising, as according to our study, the majority of women who do this do so in order to appear single. Many admitted that they didn’t want men to treat them differently, whilst some actually wanted to cheat- and so took their ring off in order to be able to get away with it!
When their interviewer was a women, why then would they not feel comfortable wearing their wedding?
Whilst our study didn’t look at the reasons why women felt uncomfortable wearing a ring in front of a female employer, it could signify that we fear being judged more harshly by other women than we do men. It’s quite likely that women may be more inclined to notice jewellery and what certain rings etc. could signify- and it was certainly an eye opener to see that, essentially, female employers were deemed as more of a risk of ‘pigeonholing.’
Why is a wedding ring indicative of family or age?
It isn’t necessarily, but it seems that many women think that it is. I guess this can be explained by modern expectations- nowadays, many women are leaving marriage etc until later in life, and it’s often the case than when marriage occurs, having a family is next on the list. This is of course not the case in many cases and is certainly an assumption, but it seems that many women assume this life plan to be the case.
In what ways would a man treat a woman differently if they were on a night out with their wedding ring on?
Again, there’s no telling how a man may treat you- wearing a ring or not! Our study showed that women removed their ring as they didn’t want men to treat them differently If they knew they were ‘off the market’- so I guess it comes down to attention. If a man thinks you’re single, he’s probably more likely to pay compliments or make a move- so this may well be what these women were after.
Why can we not escape this ‘pigeonholing’ derived from relationship status at work?
This is a very tricky question, and certainly one that frustrates many women across the UK. There’s nothing to say that women are pigeon holed in this way, but our study certainly shows that the fear of being judged in this way is very much alive and well. Women have fought hard across the decades to be seen and treated as equally as possible in the workplace, so it’s evident that the fear of losing this status through unfair assumptions causes many to take steps to protect themselves.
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