Pregnancy Discrimination

What if having a baby meant losing your job or a promotion? Too many women face exactly this fate. Believe it or not, pregnancy discrimination is on the rise!

Every time a woman is fired, forced to take leave, denied a promotion or not hired because she is pregnant or because of fear that she might become pregnant, she has experienced discriminated.

Working women’s salaries are critical to their families’ economic security. In this economy, no woman can afford to lose her job—that is especially true when she has a new baby on the way.

The National Partnership played a critical role in passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. The law amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect employees against discrimination that is related to pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related conditions.

We continue to educate the public about the rising trends in pregnancy discrimination, the rights that women and men have when they experience discrimination, and the laws that should protect them. And we work to increase enforcement of these laws.