Jerome is a 32-year-old single father with two elementary school-aged children. Marie is a 27-year-old married woman with no children. Both are applying to the same job and have almost identical education and work experience. According to the text, which of the following might be the most likely reason Jerome would be hired instead of Marie?

a) A potential employer would likely assume that because she is married, Marie will have many more household responsibilities than a single person and thus would more likely hire Jerome, despite his parental status.
b) Even though as a single father, Jerome is more likely to have home-work conflicts than Marie, the perception that family life is unlikely to interfere with men's job commitment may still make Jerome a more attractive candidate to employers.
c) Marie's lack of children is likely to make employers think she is non normative in her gender performance, and thus will be less likely to follow workplace norms.
d) Because Jerome is older, a potential employer will likely assume that he is more focused and mature than Marie, thus making him a more desirable potential employee.