With the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, and access to safe and legal abortions being stripped from roughly 1/3 of women in the US this June I wanted to share a little bit about what we know about pregnancy and the workplace. Plus, it’s Mother’s Day this weekend, so it seems fitting.
Let me preface this post by pointing out that although mothers (and I say this not to exclude trans-men and nonbinary folks who have kids, but because the research we have is only on mothers) face a lot of challenges in the workplace. One really great example was published recently on the challenges of breastfeeding (Gabriel et al., 2020). Another is on the return to work for people who gave birth four months earlier (Carlson et al., 2020). And yet another is on the discrimination that mothers face (Cheung et al., 2022). However, one of the main points of Roe v. Wade was that pregnancy and motherhood are economic burdens faced only by women (again at the time it was focused on women giving birth), and as such, to deny women access to abortion is to deny them equal opportunity to participate in the workforce. Five years later, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed, explicitly banning discrimination based on perceived pregnancy status. However, arguments brought up by Amy Coney Barrett that appear in the leaked decision written by Samuel Alito, reference adoption and Safe Haven Laws (you can legally surrender your baby to the state in certain locations with no liability) as reasons that people who give birth won’t actually be economically harmed by having a baby, because they don’t have to parent for it. So, with that in mind, this post will be entirely focused on pregnancy and birth in the workplace, not the transition to parenthood. Because, as the science will suggest, the experience of being pregnant does come with significant disadvantages in the workplace that are not solved by adoption or Safe Haven Laws.
First, we know that pregnant people face discrimination in the hiring process. Between 2010 and 2020 there were nearly 40,000 cases of pregnancy discrimination filed with the EEOC with a payment total to victims of $173.2 million. When applying for jobs women that appeared pregnant are treated with more hostility/rudeness than non-pregnant women, especially if the job they are applying to is seen as masculine (Hebl et al., 2007; Morgan et al., 2013). Further, lab studies suggest that pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women are less likely to be recommended for hiring (though Hebl’s field study did not replicate this), especially if they’re interviewed in an unstructured way (Bragger et al., 2002). Further, research shows that even the possibility that someone might become pregnant results in worse treatment by colleagues, resulting in eventual withdrawal from one’s career (Gloor et al., 2018).
But beyond objective experiences of discrimination, it whether pregnant people anticipate or perceive they experience discrimination is also harmful. Pregnant people have to decide how/whether/when to inform their coworkers that they are pregnant, and this experience causes significant distress (Jones, 2016). Perceived discrimination is also associated with burnout, and gets worse the further along into pregnancy one gets and the riskier one’s pregnancy is (Little et al., 2015). Perceived discrimination also has been shown to increase risk of postpartum depressive symptoms, low baby birth weight, earlier birth, and more doctors’ visits for the baby (Hackney et al., 2020).
Moreover, work stress in general is associated with postpartum depression and slower recovery from birth-related injuries (Jones et al., 2021). But
So, what’s to be done?
From an individual perspective, there has been quite a bit of research on how pregnant people manage their identities at work, and how/when/whether they disclose their pregnancies. This includes actively trying to show that you’re still capable at you job, if not more so (doing things like maintaining pace, not requesting accommodations, going above and beyond); and also just not talking about your pregnancy at work (things like trying to pass as not pregnant, downplaying the pregnancy) (Little et al., 2015). On the one hand, showing you’re still capable is associated with reduced perceived discrimination, lower levels of burnout (Little et al., 2015), and higher levels of engagement (Little et al., 2018). On the other hand, not talking about the pregnancy is associated with a host of negative outcomes like work-family conflict and work stress (Little et al., 2018). Yet, people who anticipate discrimination may be more likely to try to conceal their pregnancies (Jones, 2016). Similarly, using denial as a coping mechanism is linked to increased interference of the pregnancy on on work, which can impact emotions six months after birth (Arena Jr., et al., 2021). So the best steps for pregnant people appear to be to approach it head on and disclose your pregnancy at work.
But clearly, this suggestion is only as helpful as the coworkers, supervisor, and organization you disclose to. One study found that pregnant people with supportive supervisors and supportive coworkers experienced the lowest levels of stress during pregnancy (and thus the best outcomes) (Jones et al., 2021). Another found that unsupportive organizations increased a pregnant person’s use of both avoiding disclosure and trying to show they are still competent, ultimately resulting in more work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict over the course of the pregnancy (Little et al., 2018). Moreover, pregnant people’s desire to return to the workplace is significantly impacted by the support for their careers from colleagues at work. Pregnant people who perceive that their colleagues are not supportive because of their pregnancy are more likely to quit, and less likely to stay engaged with their career (Paustian-Underdahl et al., 2019). And lastly, possibly pregnant people experience more hostility from their colleagues if the organization does not provide equal parental leave regardless of gender (Gloor et al., 2018). So it clearly falls to organizations to create safe and equitable environments for people to be pregnant, to increase the support they receive during pregnancy, and eliminate hostility from coworkers.
Physically recovering from birth takes between 2 weeks and 6 months regardless of whether one keeps the baby (Romano et al., 2010). The United States has no required paid parental or maternal leave, though it does require most large employers to hold a job for individuals for family medical leave (like pregnancy) for up to six weeks. Only 1 in 4 employees has access to paid parental leave (Bureau of Labor Statistics). How can we expect pregnant people to feel supported, welcome, and protected when their livelihoods are not secure during their recovery from birth, and they’re experiencing both subtle and explicit discrimination prior to birth and even pregnancy?
Clearly, the experience of being pregnant and giving birth has serious economic consequences through discriminatory behavior, mistreatment by colleagues, and lack of financial support, all of which make engagement in the workforce more challenging for the birthing individual, ultimately harming both their short- and long-term earning potential, as well as their health and the health of the baby. The takeaway then? Do better and support pregnant people, at all levels of the organization, through their pregnancies and recoveries.
-Keaton