Intro: Pregnancy Discrimination
CLAIM: Discrimination due to the possibility of pregnancy has been and still is largely a woman’s issue, and must be combated in ways beyond legislation.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, a federal law in the USA prohibiting discrimination against pregnant women in the workforce, has been enacted since 1948 (EEOC). However, women to this day still receive unequal opportunities on the basis that they could become pregnant in the future. The issue of maternity rights is such a pressing issue today because it affects all aging women at some point in time, even those who don’t want kids.
Before diving deeper into why I find the topic of maternity rights so important, let me preface by explaining why pregnancy is a woman’s issue, even though it involves both sexes. Of course pregnancy affects both partners involved, whether it be a man or woman, as it is a physical embodiment of life that a couple shares. Of course both partners are equally responsible for the child post-birth, as those are the expectations that come with being decent human beings. However, when it comes to physical pregnancy, there is an unarguable inequality in responsibility allocated in carrying a child to term. The pregnant female bares not only the physical and emotional labor of carrying a developing child, but she also falls victim to social taboo and employment discrimination around her identity as pregnant – a type of discrimination that the other partner will not or may never experience. Thus, we need to think critically about the structural systems that limit women’s opportunities in the workforce due to the possibility of pregnancy.
Maternity discrimination is so important to acknowledge because it has negative effects on both women and men. To begin with the obvious (the former), women can face limitations in employment due to the potential for pregnancy even when PDA legislation essentially prohibits it. Common examples of discrimination include being passed over for promotions, excluded from client meetings, and being perceived as uncommitted. According to a 2014 analysis at the University of Massachusetts, every child a woman carries to term decreases 4% off a woman’s hourly wage, while a man’s earnings increase by 6%. Yet pregnancy discrimination can also effect the non-pregnant partner. An experience from my family friend Charlotte powerfully exemplifies this. She currently has one child, but regrets not having more. She explained that she couldn’t have more kids after moving to the USA, as she was on a work-visa for her and her husband, and didn’t want to risk losing her job. To her, the risk of unemployment (even under the protection of the PDA) trumped her and her husband’s desire to have a larger family. In this case, maternity discrimination limited her entire family’s ability to grow and live in the USA. Thus, pregnancy is an important issue in North America, and perhaps a more extensive analysis on gender norms can help offer a solution to combat this discrimination in ways beyond legislation.
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/pregnancy.cfm
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/15/business/pregnancy-discrimination.html