By, Gabriela Roudolph
Despite a 1978 US ban on inequity towards pregnant women in the workplace, many women are still concerned about how being pregnant will impact their professional position and whether they’ll be treated differently, or even potentially lose their job. This is pregnancy discrimination.
Equal Means Equal
In the documentary, “Equal Means Equal,” there is a segment on pregnancy discrimination, which expresses how many women believed that they’d be protected under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Unfortunately, it is one of the least enforced acts because employers are able to find loopholes that allow them to treat pregnant women unfairly without consequences.
For instance, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 secures employees’ jobs if they need to go on maternity leave, however, it does not say anything about paying them during this duration. So, for the months they’re on maternity leave, they might not receive any pay despite their needs to care for their child and pay bills.
Armanda Legros is one of the victims of pregnancy discrimination and was removed from her job “with no pay” after going on maternity leave. She was told by her employer that she could only come back if her doctor allowed her to work without any restrictions.
The documentary depicted Armanda being occupied with caring for her newborn, along with her other young child. She also reveals that she was unable to return to work due to medical issues from giving birth. The combination of Armanda tying her son’s shoes and changing her baby’s diaper, along with her speaking in disbelief that there wasn’t much to protect her rights was enough to create an emotional image for pregnant women everywhere.
We also get to see a clip from a well-known figure, former President Barack Obama, who states that “we are the only advanced country on earth that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave or maternity leave.” The clip was added for a sense of credibility to highlight that inequality in the workplace for pregnant women is not an old issue and steps need to be done to address it, especially since the United States is a first-world country and should’ve properly progressed as other countries have done.
With the documentary to help deliver the message to viewers, the director, Kamala Lopez, created an organization in support of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in order to update the current form so that inequities women face in this country are eradicated.
Elizabeth Warren
Senator Elizabeth Warren also came out to share her own pregnancy discrimination experience on Twitter.
6:08 AM · Oct 8, 2019·Twitter Web App
Through this tweet, it is exemplified that being a pregnant woman in the workplace lowers your advantages compared to others who aren’t pregnant because employers have the idea that when a woman has a child, they’ll be too preoccupied tending to their child rather than their job. So, in the employer’s eyes, a woman expecting a child doesn’t exactly have a warm welcome.
After Warren posted her tweet, there was a bit of controversy over the fact that in 1971, when Warren was fired, there was no protection for pregnant women against discrimination. Some also argued that people were a lot more closeminded in the 70s.
However, after Warren sent out her tweet, her story sparked a series of tweets from other women who shared similar experiences, many of which were in the last decade. An example is a tweet from the user, @rn_lass.
Col Gordon @rn_lass Replying to @ewarren 4:56 PM · Oct 8, 2019·Twitter for Android
As shown in the tweet, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve worked and how experienced you are, pregnant women are always going to be at a disadvantage.
Pregnancy discrimination is not a thing of the continue sharing their own experiences over media platforms like Twitter to raise awareness to others. And, the more exposure there is on this issue, the more it will help out organizations like Equal Means Equal.