Desperate Housewives Highlights Pregnancy Discrimination
This past weekend, pregnancy discrimination was on my mind. First, I met a college friend for a play date and chat while she was in town for her husband's conference. She told me stories that could easily have been set in the 1960s: her supervisor said a less-qualified male would be promoted instead of her because they "knew" she'd just follow her husband to a job in another city, anyway. The same boss advised her to avoid taking maternity leave for fear of hurting her career. When she repeated these comments to her department head, his only response was to ask how much money she wanted not to sue.
Then, I watched the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, in which Lynette Scavo (played by Felicity Huffman) encounters an eerily similar scenario. Just as she's about to tell her boss she's pregnant, he offers her a promotion -- mentioning that he can't give it to her well-qualified colleague because that employee is pregnant. She spends the rest of the episode hiding her pregnancy, a story line I expect to prove very interesting in the weeks to come.
When I was having babies, I was lucky enough to work for supervisors who supported whatever maternity leave I wanted and didn't pressure me to return before I was ready. But I shouldn't have had to feel lucky. Employer support for maternity leave should be the norm. After all, the best investment a society can make is in the health and well-being of babies -- they are the future workforce. And all the research available on maternity leave shows that babies do better when they have ample time to establish breastfeeding and bond with mama.
When you were pregnant, did you feel it impacted your career? What about during maternity leave?
Photo courtesy of ABC
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I suspect after reading your post, I may tune in to Desperate Housewives… it’s been awhile. My last job was for a MAJOR publishing house, working for a beauty/fashion title-spear headed by some very brilliant women. However, when little old me became not so little around the middle, this same group of women expected me to work up until my first contraction which proved to be an impossible task. So, in answer to your question… Yes. I feel like being pregnant impacted my career greatly and my desire to go back. Did I mention that my boss at the time asked me to stay on my first day of maternity leave so she could take a personal day? Need I say more.
I am currently being demoted from Purchasing Agent to Receptionist during my maternity leave. For no other reason then because I am having a child.