By: Narissa

October 18, 2018

 

In 1960 60 percent of women having their first child worked while pregnant, this number has now increased to 72.3 percent within the last decade. So when I decided to continue working after I found out I was pregnant, I thought it would be no big deal. Many women in my job had stayed working throughout their pregnancy with one lady even staying up until her water broke! For the first three months I did not tell anyone about my pregnancy but then one day my belly just expanded and there was no denying it.  My managers, supervisors and fellow associates all congratulated me which made me believe that everything would be just fine. Before I confirmed my pregnancy, I read an article that popped up on my snap-chat news-feed about women being fired or demoted while pregnant. After the excitement that my pregnancy news was met with, however, I thought nothing would happen to me. Then, three months later when I was about six months pregnant I got called into the office by my head manger and supervisor. My manager started off by saying that she worked while pregnant and during one of her pregnancies she had to have her boss escort her out because she did not want to leave even after her water broke. Even though I am many years younger than my manager, I know the serious risks of waiting until after your water breaks, and have been warned by my prenatal doctor about not seeking medical attention after my water breaks. That reckless story was followed by the hurtful comment “you’re pregnant not disabled.”

When I heard those words all the stories I read about pregnancy discrimination in the workplace started to come back to me. In 1978 Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act which made discrimination based on pregnancy and childbirth related medical conditions illegal, however, since then there has been countless number of lawsuits dealing with the treatment of pregnant women in the workforce. What surprises me the most about the cases I’ve read about and my own experience is the discrimination sometimes comes from fellow mothers! While pregnancy is a beautiful experience it comes with struggles that only other mothers know about and I thought that these mothers would be more understanding towards their pregnant workers because of the shared experience. After all the stories I read and talking with two members of this blog who also had a rough time at their jobs while pregnant, I believe more legal actions need to be taken in regards to pregnancy discrimination.