Many years ago I worked with a reporter named Jane who was about 25 years my senior. She had worked for a major newspaper in New England and told me she was fired when she got pregnant. Even though she was one of the top reporters at the paper they canned her. She was a single mother so losing her job hit very hard.
I was shocked and told her so. She said, “Eve, that’s how things were back then.” No one questioned such things, she explained, there were no laws and women were looked at as second class citizens.
There I was thinking, wasn’t it great how far women, our society, have come.
Well, it turns out we haven’t come that far. My column this week is about pregnancy discrimination. And guess what folks, it’s on the rise.
It was disheartening to look at the rising number of pregnancy discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and it’s been a bummer to get so many emails from readers telling me about their stories of bias before and after they got pregnant.
Is it just me, or are we moving in the wrong direction?
Update (5/25/07)
Several days after my column ran on MSNBC.com, the EEOC announced a list of guidelines making it clear what the agency considers discrimination against pregnant employees, and also workers who are care givers to family members. This guidelines will hopefully help women, and men, out there understand once and for all what their rights are.
An EEOC statement says: A wide range of circumstances are highlighted in the guidance,
including: sex-based stereotyping and subjective decision making
regarding working mothers; assumptions about pregnant workers;
discrimination against working fathers and women of color; stereotyping
based on association with an individual with a disability; and hostile
work environments affecting caregivers. The guidance is intended to
assist employers, employees, and EEOC staff alike.
Check out the new guidelines and a fact sheet.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:49 pm
goes right along with women having to give up on familys and or spouses to have a career…… either or. how many men have been fired for having a baby join the family??
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:41 am
That’s a good point.
But one issue that men who email me at MSNBC.com keep bringing up is women have a choice to become pregnant, and they have to face the consequences.
I don’t agree with this but many men are angry about having to pick up the slack when women take time off to have children. Many resent this.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Face consequences??! It makes me mad as hell! I am currently putting my boxing gloves on. Bring it on! Having children is crucial for our society’s existence!!! Make it easier for both men and women to combine work and family life instead! Sweden is an excellent example of a country that has dared to implement “radical” change. Women and men share one year maternity leave. As a result women are finally starting to catch up to the men in terms of salary.
If applying to a job, “motherhood” should be at the top of the resume. So many good things come with it: maturity, leadership, creativity, knowledge, empathy etc. Hiding the fact you have a children or a family will never benefit anyone.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
You go girl! We need to get angry over this, men and women. Family is the responsibility of everyone, and women, being the ones that get pregnant, shouldn’t be penalized for it. If indeed, they do their jobs.
July 16th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
What about all the poor saps at the office who have to cover for women when they take off 12 weeks and then decide at the last moment to not return at all? All that time has been wasted.Time that could have been spent training a replacement. THIS is the reason that discrimination happens. I’ve been left in the lurch by more than one pregnant coworker and they don’t care at all. So why should I care about them?
LM