"Are you married?"

I was asked if I was married by four different interviewers at one program.

I'm just wondering, are they asking me specifically because I am a female? Or, are you guys getting this question too?

I thought interviewers are not allowed to ask about your personal life. Is this not true?

Thanks.

I am a male and have gotten asked that question a bunch from several different programs. It never seemed to be a negative though in my experience.

Supposedly studies show that being married has a correlation with higher board scores. There's some literature showing that.

However, I doubt that weighs very heavily in anyone's mind.

Sounds like typical conversation to me...I'm male and married, have been asked several times and never felt like it was helping or hurting me to say yes.

While that question may or may not seem benign to some here's what the rules of employment law say:

Employment Interview Laws
Human resources professionals should know which questions cannot be asked during a job interview, but smaller companies without a formal HR department may sometimes inadvertently ask illegal job interview questions. Employment interview laws are very specific and, in general, during a job interview, the candidate should never be asked about age, race, national origin, marital or parental status, or disabilities.

wnl

Thank you, Dr. Levine. That's what I thought.

Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to handle this question? I don't want to appear closed off, but I think it is actually kind of a loaded question (perhaps more for females than males?). The answer shouldn't matter, but why would they ask it unless it did?