Pregnancy Discrimination
11/30/2018
Blog by Pepperdine University student Ivy
This week I will post five blogs from students at Pepperdine University. Professor Carolyn Galantine assigned students to choose a blog and post comments. I appreciate students' inclusion of my blog in their responses. This is blog #5.
People need to realize that pregnancy discrimination takes rights away from women and in some situations, it gives women the idea of not bearing children to save their jobs. As we all know, childbearing is essential for reproduction and the costs of childbearing shouldn’t fall only on women, which doesn’t seem to occur to employers who fire women for pregnancy.
Even though there are federal laws that cover pregnancy discrimination and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is supposed to investigate pregnancy discrimination in workplaces of 15 or more employees, the number of pregnancy discrimination doesn’t decrease.
It is true that society is developing to accept diversity and promote equality. Nevertheless, the workplaces are still in a designed structure where the husband is responsible for finances and the wife is supposed to stay home and take care of the household. When a society promotes equality, people should adopt the idea of women being independent and supported to achieve their goals professionally.
If a pregnant woman has the ability to finish her duties and perform as expected, the employer does not have any rights to keep her from performing basic functions of her jobs or change her obligations during the entire time of pregnancy. It is aggrieved when employers ask a woman not to do a task in case she offends other people. On the other hand, a pregnant woman is obligated to report to the supervisors if she thinks that she is not able to do a certain task and the
supervisor should respond to the request equally as the other possible requests in a workplace.
I do believe that there should be more information for women to access to protect their rights. For example, it is necessary for them to keep the paperwork they send and receive for their request on anything pregnancy-related in case of any disputes. When the employers refuse to guarantee maternity leave, they have the rights to first fight for their rights internally, if that doesn’t work, they can file charges against the company and they should be supported and guided by some officials from the government through the process.
Pregnancy is a blessing and no one should be punished or discriminated because of it.
Student blog posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on November 30, 2018. Visit Steve's website and sign up for his newsletter. Follow him on Facebook and Like his page.