United States Federal Act
According to the United States Federal Act or Law as reported in The Washington times, no employer is supposed to and cannot discriminate against any pregnant women in the organization. The controversy that surrounds this law therefore is that discrimination usually takes different forms so much so that the pregnant women themselves do not even notice it going on. Remember, it does not have to be only physical but may also take the form of isolation. “The law treats pregnancy as a medical condition: it must be treated the same way as other medical conditions with similar employment effects” (Hyde, 2005). This therefore is supposed to mean that the urgency in which the sick is treated is the same respect that has to be accorded to a pregnant woman when it comes to the time when she might be in need of the leave. There is the other group of journalists that argue that pregnancy is a natural process and must not be therefore being considered a medical condition (Ridley&Duff, 2008),
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If there is any law that most employers are much aware of is that pertaining to the discriminative activities against pregnant mothers. The only time they begin violating the law is when it comes to those matters pertaining to absenteeism as well as the emotional factors that are associated to the complications that surround the pregnancy situation. This is a phrase from one of the leading United States daily newspapers from the health and lifestyle column. This is a writer who happens to be conveying the information that pregnant women are very delicate to manage and handle at work places and therefore considered fragile. The articles goes ahead and explains the fact that the laws that protect pregnant women are very numerous just like there are different clauses in the constitution so much so that a clear understanding of the individual laws and acts is considered necessary. “Federal and state laws governing pregnancy generally fall into two categories – prohibitions against adverse employment actions and rules covering pregnancy-related leave” (Hyde, 2005). The main law that governs and prohibits the employers from discriminating against pregnant women is that formulated in the Federal Pregnancy discrimination Act that is meant to guard against any form of sexual discrimination. The major challenges that need a lot of consultation with the employers as well as the physicians is the timing of the leaves. In most cases, this has been dependent on the health conditions surrounding the woman’s life as well as the available work on the desk on the side of the employer.
It can be directly concluded that pregnant women are faced with a lot of challenges especially those pertaining to work as well as family responsibilities. Another point worth noting is that even though there are several Acts that are meant to protect the women, most employers are aware of them but still violates the Acts by putting the interest of the organization first (Singer& Peter 1999). When it comes to the various news reporters and journalist, there are a lot of instances where the accuracy in reporting the information is wanting due to the inconsistencies that arise in the reportatiuon of facts. This can be best improved by encouraging the media companies to educate and enlighten the journalists about objectivity when reporting so much the emotional biases can be avoided. Various organizations that are aimed at advocating for the women and children rights are encouraged to run various campaigns aimed at enlightening the employers and the employees on the need for the promotion of the welfare of women. It is also important that the media companies make it upon themselves to collect and share information through various consultative approaches to avoid biases and inaccuracy and lack of reliability in the information being passed across to the public for consumption.