Stigmatizace mateřství pohledem HR profesionálů

The stigmatization of motherhood represents a specific context that can be encountered in recruitment process. In practice, HR professionals encounter this stigmatization and, within their liminal position, must balance related contradictory demands. This diploma thesis aims to explore how HR professionals respond to the stigmatization of motherhood when employing mothers and how these responses relate to the dynamics of paradoxical tensions in the organizational environment. To fulfil this aim, a qualitative research strategy was chosen, using semi-structured interviews conducted in two iterations with HR professionals. The findings present four predominantly defensive responses of HR professionals and show that the approach of organizations to mothers is shaped by the balancing of flexibility, constraints and efficiency. The interaction of these factors across the responses indicates that the barrier on the part of organizations is often not the mere fact that a woman is a mother, but the requirement for flexibility. The practical contribution of the thesis lies in an empirically grounded explanation of why support for employing mothers often does not translate into everyday organizational practice and what role the responses of HR professionals play in this process.