Exactly what I was thinking. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to consider that when social changes are introduced, some of the current ways we value things will change, and current judgements can't necessarily be used as a gauge for future behavior.

Employers looking at 'gaps' and never ever inquiring from anyone remotely interesting why those gaps occurred are just throwing potentially great workers to the competition. "I took 18 months off to care for my dying parents, who passed away last month" is a totally different type of person from "meh - there's just too much quality day time television beckoning me to sit on the couch to bother looking for work".