Published on November 16, 2011
The Maternity Benefits Act, 1961 explicitly prohibits discrimination against women employees due to pregnancy, childbirth or other related medical conditions. Any contravention before or after childbirth is expressly punishable with fine as well as imprisonment!
Accordingly, most organisations adopt the politically-correct stance of facilitating an inclusive workplace, but actually pay mere lip-service as they still harbour negative beliefs and prejudices against expecting women.
To be fair, the Indian corporate world has made significant strides when it comes to establishing gender equality. Yet, when it comes to pregnancy both overt and covert bias prevails. At the outset itself, organisations are not open to hiring newly married women as these high-risk resources are ‘bound' to get pregnant soon and turn into a burden or leave soon after. News of a pregnancy is not only not welcome but also viewed unkindly as an ‘unnecessary inconvenience'!
While an employee's pregnancy is legally irrelevant to her work and it's quite safe for her to continue working, this is far from what actually takes place. Managements deem expecting women as less committed, less productive, frequently absent and even unable to do their jobs well.
This discrimination manifests itself as tangible signals like negative, demeaning, vulgar or resentful comments about the employee's poor planning, physical appearance, pregnancy symptoms, child-rearing abilities, impact of the impending maternity leave on the workplace or even that she has been pregnant more than once while working at the same job.
Then there are more implicit and subtle signs like limiting training, withholding high-profile assignments, denying promotions, unwanted job transfers, excessive/unnecessary criticism, unfair evaluations, denying benefits to even demotion or outright termination! For instance, managers treat pregnant employees as ‘backup options' and do not invest in their training as they will leave soon and may not come back.
It can even take the shape of ‘benign discrimination' where pregnant employees are ‘advised' to discontinue working, not return after childbirth and settle down with the baby.
The so-called benevolence even extends to the notion that pregnant women need protection and are incapable of handling normal job duties.
Apart from this, failing to accommodate an expecting employee's needs is also tantamount to discrimination. Yet, they are not given additional support for their limitations unless they have been with the company for a long time or are exceptionally skilled. For instance consider this telling instance: At a recent seminar held in Mumbai, more than 75% of the 300-member audience (women professionals from the best companies in the country) assented that they got pregnant while employed. But shockingly, just 3 or 4 of them had received extra support from their employers!
Such discrimination is rooted in lingering negative attitudes and stereotypes that refuse to die away. On the one hand, there is the belief that pregnant women should stay at home and rest and childcare is their exclusive responsibility. On the other, it is often deemed that pregnant women cannot work as effectively and eventually will not return to the workforce. And even if they do, enthusiasm and commitment will be markedly low as work plays second-fiddle to family!
An employment lawyer elaborates, “The problem is that these attitudes are self-fulfilling prophecies - because a woman is pregnant, she doesn't get an important training opportunity, then the employer decides that without the training she can't handle the most challenging problems and then assigns her rote work. Very soon, since she doesn't have the training, she gets more and more rote work. As a result, the employer decides that is all she's good for. It is a vicious cycle and the graveyard for the dreams of many working women who become pregnant!”
So, will employers take steps to preserve the sanctity of human life? Is the desire to be comfortably and respectfully employed while pregnant too much to ask?
Payal Chanania
No comments:
Post a Comment