Pregnant Women at Work

Abstract

Research suggests that pregnant women are discriminated against in the workplace and that a significant percentage of new mothers leave the workforce. Few researchers have examined the link between women's discriminatory experiences and workforce attrition, instead of focusing on either individual-level factors (e.g., income) or workplace factors (e.g., workplace support) that predict turnover. We integrate previous findings on individual and workplace factors within a stigma framework that takes into account pregnant women's anticipated and experienced stigma. We hypothesized that pregnant women's anticipated and experienced stigma would mediate the relationships between individual (e.g., gender role attitudes) and workplace factors (e.g., workplace support) and job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and turnover intentions. Using a threewave longitudinal design, we surveyed 142 pregnant women during and after their pregnancies, and we used path analysis to test mediational models. Results indicated that anticipated stigma partially mediated the relationship between workplace factors and psychological well-being, whereas experienced stigma partially mediated the relationships between workplace factors and job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and turnover intentions. Overall, our study demonstrates both the utility of a stigma framework and the importance of workplace experiences in understanding why women leave their jobs.Although upper management was extremely supportive when I told them of my pregnancy, I feel they now view me as ''weak.'' They did not give me a promotion that I am sure I would have gotten had I not been pregnant. I feel they believe I will not want to put in the same hours I am working now once the baby arrives. I also feel they do not want to give me additional responsibilities at the time as they fear I may not return to work. Overall, this pregnancy has forever changed the way I feel about my job and upper management.-Study ParticipantThe majority of U.S. women are working, either full time or part time, when they become pregnant for the first time (Johnson, 2007). Although most women in the United States return to work within 3 months of the birth of their children, about a quarter ultimately quit their jobs (Johnson, 2007). Job turnover is costly, both to the employers who will need to rehire and re-train workers and to the women themselves who will lose current earnings and career satisfaction, as well as whose future career advancement may be derailed. Thus, understanding what drives turnover intentions for first-time mothers is a critical question. In the current article, we integrate previous findings on individual factors (e.g., salary and attitudes) and workplace factors (e.g., work-family balance culture and workplace support) within a stigma framework that takes into account the anticipated and experienced discrimination related to pregnancy that working women report. Following a group of working women from their first trimester through the post-birth period, we exami...

Pushed out or opting out? Integrating perspectives on gender differences in withdrawal attitudes during pregnancy.

“…Intention to return to the workforce. We measured intention to return to the workforce using two items by Fox and Quinn (2015): "I plan to return to work following the birth of my child; I am confident I will return to work after the birth of my child. "…”

“…Based on social role theory (Eagly, 1987), the pushed-out perspective suggests that when women become pregnant, they experience gender biases from others, including the expectation that mothers will assume the role of primary caregiver. These biases can be accompanied by the experience of unfair and detrimental treatment at work and can reduce the desire of working mothers to remain within their organizations and/or in the workforce more generally (Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007;Fox & Quinn, 2015;Williams, Blair-Loy, & Berdahl, 2013). Fathers, however, often reap the benefit of gender biases at work.…”

Identity Concealment and Social Change: Balancing Advocacy Goals Against Individual Needs

“…Organizations that demonstrate support for diversity with non-discrimination policies, recognition of diversity-related events, and other activities can help create an environment that facilitates disclosure. The importance of supportive workplace policies in facilitating disclosure and reducing stigma has been demonstrated for members of sexual minority groups (King, Reilly, & Hebl, 2008;Ragins & Cornwell, 2001), pregnant women (Fox & Quinn, 2015), and cancer survivors (Martinez & Hebl, 2015). Organizations that demonstrate their support for inclusivity and employee well-being are likely to have more employees that disclose and thus more recognized diversity within the organization.…”

The communicative construction of workplace flexibility stigma

“…The flexibility stigma literature defines stigma via Link and Phelan's (2001) definition of stigma as the co-occurrence of its components: labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination. However, the flexibility stigma literature tends to conflate stigma and discrimination (see Coltrane, Miller, DeHaan, & Stewart, 2013;Dodson, 2013;Fox & Quinn, 2015 as a few examples). For example, Fox and Quinn (2015) developed scales focused on the anticipated and experienced stigma during pregnancy at work.…”

“…However, the flexibility stigma literature tends to conflate stigma and discrimination (see Coltrane, Miller, DeHaan, & Stewart, 2013;Dodson, 2013;Fox & Quinn, 2015 as a few examples). For example, Fox and Quinn (2015) developed scales focused on the anticipated and experienced stigma during pregnancy at work. Yet, in their write up of the results, they frequently referred to their participants' "discriminatory experiences" instead of stigma as their scale called for.…”