Rallying For The Rights of Pregnant Women

PregnantwebThe rights of pregnant women are being severely compromised. When something as common as getting pregnant interferes or comes into conflict with something as fundamental as having a job, we have a problem. According to a recent analysis by Ancestry.com, the proportion of working mothers in the United States has gone up an estimated 800 percent since 1860. Approximately 80 percent of all women become mothers, and nearly two-thirds of the women who gave birth in 2011 worked.

Fair Treatment For Pregnant Women At Work Is Crucial

Elissa Strauss recently wrote at TheWeek.com that fair treatment for pregnant women at work needs to become a new rallying cry for feminists everywhere, because as it is, many pregnant women don’t have protections and are finding themselves without a paycheck at a time when they may need it most. On Dec. 3, 2014 the Supreme Court will hear Young v. United Parcel Service, a pregnancy-discrimination case that will ultimately determine whether pregnant women can request to be accommodated at work. The case stems from the experience of Peggy Young, who worked as a part-time driver for UPS. During her pregnancy she was forced to go on unpaid leave when the company wouldn’t grant her request to only lift boxes 20 pounds or lighter. Her job description required her to be able to lift boxes up to 70 pounds, and her inability to do that literally put her out of work.
Employers, of course, need to get the job done. A question to ask to determine if discrimination is taking place would be: If a man acquired a physical condition or injury that temporarily prevented him from lifting 70 pounds, would UPS accommodate him by letting him work at a desk until his abilities returned? If yes, a pregnant woman should get the same consideration.

It’s Time To Update The Pregnancy Discrimination Act

Strauss cites the case is coming at a time when legislation to protect pregnant workers is being passed in Illinois, West Virginia, Delaware, and New York City. There is even a bill making the rounds in Congress to ensure “reasonable workplace accommodations” for pregnant workers. That bill would be an obvious and increasingly necessary follow-up to 1978’s Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The PDA essentially prohibits employers from discrimination because of pregnancy but does not require them to make special accommodations for pregnant women. So in the case of Peggy Young, the PDA protected her from being fired, but since UPS did not make accommodations she still did not have a job to do, and in turn did not have a paycheck.

Enacting Stronger Protections Helps All Women

We have work to do, and that work needs to involve protecting pregnant women. We need to lean on our policy makers and elected officials and make our voices heard. Failure to act on this places too many women a doctor’s note away from financial ruin or disastrous health consequences. The rights of pregnant women need to be protected.
To read more about Strauss’s research and Young’s story, go to TheWeek.com.

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