Issaquah, Washington real estate agents Chase and Jeff Costello have shown that employment discrimination is still a thing with a recent sexist mailout.
The ad shows a mother of three looking completely incompetent and miserable– a skipping rope tied around her legs, a colander on the baby’s head, family photos with kids’ scribbles hung askew, marks all over the wall, and just general chaos. On the other side, two clean and tidy white guys with their fancy hairdos and hundred-dollar suits. They even have pocket squares, guys; they must be amazing real estate agents. Clearly, they are too busy working for their clients to deal with any kid chaos.
The point of the ad is that the Costellos do real estate full-time, so their clients will presumably get the best real estate deal possible.
But their message goes deeper than that. The big fat problem with this ad is that it was discussed, story-boarded, and designed with a concept so blatantly sexist, but they all thought it was a good idea. Not only that, they are buying into the attitude that moms are worse employees than dads, or men or women without kids. Men having kids apparently does not affect the quality of their work, as Jeff Costello’s website bio says he is a proud father who enjoys “being active in his kids’ hobbies,” according to mashable.com (the Costello brothers’ website has apparently been taken down and redirected to another Seattle-area firm’s site). Although, due to his intense professionalism, his kids’ hobbies presumably take place only when there is no real estate business.
Studies have shown that mothers face employment discrimination in employers’ hiring practices, wages, promotions, and perceptions of competency, even compared to women without kids. Clearly, that attitude is widespread enough that the advertising firm thought this ad would have mass appeal.
It’s interesting that the Costellos should criticize working moms, since Washington has some of the highest childcare costs in the US, with single moms paying up to 50% of their income on childcare. Because of this, many moms try to find ways to earn income from home in order to avoid daycare costs.
But watch out for those working moms– they’re too busy caring for their children to really do a good job selling your house. Far better to hire a white man in a suit who occasionally involves himself in his childrens’ hobbies.
