Posted on 04/04/2012 10:28:52 AM PDT by Morgana
Disdain for pregnant women in the workplace is at a record high in our nation. Pregnancy Discrimination cases are on the rise. In the past ten years the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC has resolved pregnancy discrimination cases totaling $150.5 million in damages for over 52,000 women. Some say this is because of a competitive labor market that shows little mercy to moms. I believe this is yet another tragic byproduct of our acceptance of abortion.
While abortion does not cause this discrimination, it has lead to a widespread devaluing of motherhood in society. How can we expect a nation that encourages women to kill their children to also respect the vocation of motherhood? Motherhood is being mocked, belittled, and demolished with every baby sacrificed at the altar of convenience. Abortion is an evil root that bears the fruit of dishonor towards women. Women are continually pressured to choose abortion to enable them to continue pursuing education and career goals. Children are thought of as burdensome, unworthy investments that hinder productivity. If mothers think that way, why wouldn’t employers and bosses do the same?
Women who bravely balance family and career responsibilities are struggling because of scrutiny in the workplace. Dr. Mary Beamer is a chiropractor who was fired from her job after missing 11 days of work because of “Hyperemesis Gravidarum” – a severe case of morning sickness that causes dehydration. Beamer’s employer was given documents from her emergency room and doctor’s appointments. Before returning to work, Mary got an unpleasant phone call from the practice’s owner. She was told, “I don’t want you coming back to the office because I don’t like how you are running it.” Mary was fired and her health insurance benefits were canceled within days.
In an attempt to get justice, she sued for pregnancy and sex discrimination in 2007. Her employer counter-sued for $50,000, claiming that Beamer was required to pay for lost patient services and training per her employee agreement. In May 2012, her case will finally be brought before a judge. Beamer told ABC News that she “lost almost everything.” Her family lost their home and had to move into her sister’s basement. She is now living with her husband and daughter in another city, awaiting trial.
We have laws that protect pregnant women in the workplace. Mainly the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act provides some employees with three months of unpaid leave to care for their child. Last month, the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held a public meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss pregnancy discrimination. A question was raised as to why pregnancy discrimination continues to increase after the Act was passed to prohibit it. Joan Williams, director of the Center for Work Life Law at the University of California-Hastings, said it may be because the stereotypes regarding gender and caregiving are very strong. “Although nobody says, ‘This is not a suitable job for a woman,’ they say, ‘This is not a suitable job for a mother.’”
Mary Beamer’s lawyer told ABC News that pregnant women are losing their jobs because they might need to use the bathroom more frequently than “normal,” pump breast milk, or sit down periodically.
Donnicia Venters claims she lost her job because she asked if she could pump breast milk in the backroom. She called the company president to talk about her return to work. After mentioning the breast pump, He said, “Well, we filled your spot.” When she questioned, he replied, “Well, we thought you were not coming back.” Venters said she was willing to pump at home if necessary. Her case was brought to court, and a Texas judge ruled in favor of her employer, stating that “firing someone because of lactation or breast-pumping is not sex discrimination.”
Some cases are even stranger. A pregnant nursing home activities worker was fired for not being able to lift a table, and a retail worker was fired because she needed to drink water on the job.
Physically weaker, pregnant women are being mistreated. Companies are prioritizing production over people. Loyal workers are being pushed out with little or no remorse from their employers. Women wonder if announcing their pregnancy will cost them their job. People cling to contraceptives and silently head to abortion centers because of fear. What type of culture has Roe v. Wade produced? A selfish, individualistic, money-hungry, unjust nation.
A society that allows abortion is one that unwittingly suffers the consequences of generations of disempowered and devalued women. The fight for women’s rights begins in the womb.
Women have always been discriminated against for being pregnant. Women who are pregnant are often less able and women with newborns are often unreliable.
They have found that women with newborns do better if they can “work at home”. If it is some kind of job requiring a computer or such and they just turn in their work at the office once a week or email it in. Hey as long as the work is done who cares WHERE it is done?
I’m for it.
True story:
A friend’s pregnant (and married) daughter was 6 months pregnant this past December. She worked in sales at a very successful local jeweler’s place of business. She went to his office to discuss her leave for the birth of her child (any day now). He told her that he’d never had anyone take maternity leave, that it would be a hardship, that she needed to resign her position. (Handily enough for him, if she resigned, she would not be paid her quarterly bonus for selling over $100K— which came to about #5K.)
The long and the short of it is that he fired her and kept her bonus. She refused to turn him in for firing her for being pregnant because she feared that it would keep her from getting any future jobs in the community.
The bottom line for most employers is the bottom line.
If pregnant women and women taking maternity leave were beneficial to a company’s profits, then we would see employers falling all over one another to get more pregnant women on the workforce :)
This thread will get interesting I predict....
I do think in an UP economy where full employment was happening and profits being made, this issue would go away, but in tough times you cut back where you can.
If women valued motherhood so much, they wouldn’t dump their newborns into commercial orphanages (daycare) so they could get back to being fulfilled by their careers. And spare me the sob story about how it takes two incomes to survive today. It only takes two incomes if you want a $300,000 home, two SUVs and a closet full of shoes.
We did not have a lake house a BMW and a Mercedes, but the kids are much better off. going to be turning 50 this year and GOD willing there is still plenty of time for a lake house.
The implication is that the second statement proves the first. I don't accept that.
You aren’t getting any arguments from me. I was just pointing out that this was not a new thing. This has been as old as the hills.
I think everyone should be employed by the Government, and then rented out to businesses. It’s the only fair way to share the responsibility of employing the unemployable. If you need five workers, you put in a request for twelve workers down at the socialist hall, and they send you fifteen workers. You’ll need an out of the way place to put the ten workers with disabilities while the other five work, but that’s the price you pay for being a good citizen. You’ll be billed for the fifteen workers, and ironically, you’ll be billed for your own self, because you work for the Government too!
But at least at the end of the day you can go home and have a quiet evening with your family, and the other three families that you live with in your Government owned house.
Many people DO have to have two incomes. Not everyone is an engineer, have specialized degrees that produce higher incomes or are lucky to own their own business that does well.
And many of these two income earners are not living high on the hog. Many have to really watch their pennies.
This is why it is entirely rational...AND compassionate, for employers NOT to treat men and women the same, and feminists are simply wrong to demand that.
Treat humans as you do machines, and this is what you get.
Demands of equality are fundamentally...irrational and harsh.
Demands of equality are fundamentally...irrational and harsh.
__________________
No argument there....look at the dating, marrige and divorce standards these days.
She needs to go down to the labor dept and her attorney generals office and file a law suit. By the time she is done she should own that store.
“This is why it is entirely rational...AND compassionate, for employers NOT to treat men and women the same, and feminists are simply wrong to demand that.”
Problem is, women want equal pay, and they want to be treated different.
If you could pay women of child bearing age less than otherwise equivalent people, they would get the jobs they need. (I sound like Walter Williams!)
So in what ways do you want employers to treat men and women differently?
Telecommuting is good for fathers as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.