Denise Dunkin, The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 19778 (1998)

In the post World War II era, it became clear that the role of wife, mother, and housewife was not fulfilling for many women. While domesticity and motherhood were lauded as a woman's ultimate commitment, the 1960s and 70s proved to be a time when women asked, "What more is there for me?" This heightened awareness of a woman's position as both mother and worker led to a complex response on the part of American government. How was America to deal with the pregnant female worker?

This paper discusses the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Supreme Court decisions with regard to pregnancy. Many of these landmark developments were influenced by the changing conceptions of birth and pregnancy at the time. New advances in labor and delivery practices, the rise of Lamaze practices, and an increased emphasis on natural childbirth changed popular perceptions of pregnancy and childbirth for the better. Coupled with the feminist movement, women were beginning to take more ownership over the process of childbirth. During the 1970s, pregnancy came to be seen as something natural, not a disease.

Unfortunately, positive strides that were made by individual states that passed laws requiring private employers to pay benefits to women disabled by pregnancy, were dealt a serious blow when the Supreme Court ruled in two cases, Geduldig v. Aiello , and General Electric Co. v. Gilbert . Both of these cases, relying on the idea that pregnancy represents a fundamental difference between men and women, allowed employers to treat men and women affected by a medical issue different from women giving birth. In response to Geduldig and Gilbert , Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978, which amended Title VII to include discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. The Act mandates that while pregnancy is a unique condition, it must be treated the same as other temporary disabilities that affect the ability of an employee to work. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was passed with the explicit purpose of protecting women from discrimination in the job market. The PDA covered not only benefits, but also other employment policies such as refusal to hire or promote pregnant women, termination, mandatory leave, and reinstatement rights. In response to the Supreme Court's attempt to reinforce traditional notions of motherhood, Congress took aggressive steps towards ensuring that pregnancy did not serve as a bar to women's professional success.

 

Revised July 23, 2003 (MD)