Envisioning the future as a working mother -- Nine months and counting: balancing pregnancy and professionalism -- Becoming a working mother: maternity leave and returning to work -- The evolution of work and family, growing a family and a career -- Older, wiser, but still a working mother -- Flexible work, a benefit but not a panacea -- Creating a non-linear career story -- What to expect from the unexpected in work and family -- Allies not enemies: garnering support from the men in our lives -- Epilogue: where do we go from here: moving beyond maternal optimism
AbstractThis paper explores how pregnancy discrimination at work is perceived by both employers and pregnant employees. Using a public, qualitative dataset collected by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission that offers perspectives from both employers and pregnant employees, we explore the unfair and unethical treatment of pregnant employees at work. Our findings show how pregnant workers are expected to conform with workplace systems that are treated as sacred. We suggest that employer valorization of the mythical figure of 'ideal worker' disadvantages pregnant workers. We observe how, even if this contravenes maternity protection laws, some employers self-justify discrimination against pregnant employees who they perceive to have transgressed 'appropriate' workplace behaviors as ethical and reasonable. To illuminate and conceptualize the notion of transgression, our analysis has led us to the ideas of philosopher Georges Bataille, specifically his reflections on how individuals who 'transgress' social norms are treated as taboo, as well as his metaphorical descriptions of people and practices as either sacred or profane. We theorize that pregnant workers who are treated as profane should be reclassified as sacred, opening up this idea for debate so as to disrupt long-standing patterns of discrimination.
