Samantha Armytage makes astonishing claim she was treated unfairly at work for being childless – claiming ‘bosses don’t ask as much of you if you’re a wife or mother’
Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has made an extraordinary claim that women are treated better in the workplace when they are married with children.
Speaking to Sunday’s Stellar magazine, the 44-year-old claimed that bosses had previously given her more work to do than her female co-workers simply because she was single and unmarried.
‘Bosses don’t ask as much of you if you’re a wife or mother,’ she claimed.
‘Bosses don’t ask as much of you if you’re a wife or mother’: Sunrise host Samantha Armytage, 44, has made extraordinary claim that women are treated better in the workplace when they are married with children
‘I’ve never shied away from hard work, but there was an expectation that Sam would do it because she’s got nothing else going on. [Sometimes I’d think] “Well, actually, I’d get something else going on if you didn’t make me do this”,’ she added.
Samantha, who quietly wed equestrian businessman Richard Lavender on New Years Eve, also claimed that women working in the TV world are forced to put on a ‘masculine’ facade to avoid ‘getting trodden on’.
However, Samantha believes she’s never caved to this expectation, and has always maintained a strong level of empathy and femininity in the newsroom.
‘There was an expectation that Sam would do it’: Speaking to Sunday’s Stellar magazine, Samantha claimed that bosses had previously given her more work to do than her female co-workers simply because she was single and unmarried
The candid admission comes after Sam admitted on the Kyle and Jackie O Show that she has thought about retirement.
Earlier this month, she said that while she was still under contract at Seven, she hadn’t ruled out giving up her TV career for a quiet life in the Southern Highlands.
The media personality said that she was ‘very happy’ in her job but could ‘easily’ see herself embracing country life ‘down the track’.
Strong: Samantha, who quietly wed equestrian businessman Richard Lavender (left) on New Years Eve, also claimed that women working in the TV world are forced to put on a ‘masculine’ facade to avoid ‘getting trodden on’
Change of pace? Earlier this month, she said that while she was still under contract at Seven, she hadn’t ruled out giving up her TV career for a quiet life in the Southern Highlands. Pictured with Sunrise’s David ‘Kochie’ Koch
Radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson observed: ‘I get the feeling, Sam, that you’re going to give this up next contract or something. Do you ever see yourself doing that [retiring to the country]?’
Sam replied: ‘Oh yeah, I think down the track I could, easily.’
When quizzed on whether she would miss working in TV, Sam offered a thoughtful response.
‘I do wonder… there’s a lot of adrenaline in television. Anything that’s live there’s a lot of adrenaline. Sometimes I wonder… but by the same token you don’t want that adrenaline all the time,’ she said.
‘And you know, I’ve been a journo for 22 years. I’m very old,’ she added.
Read more: Samantha’s interview appears in Sunday’s Stellar magaznie