Pregnancy in the Workplace: The Role of Stigmas, Discrimination, and Identity Management

Women constitute approximately half of the labor market (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014), which highlights the need to understand their experiences in the workplace. Although some have reported that approximately 90 percent of women will become pregnant while being employed (Fried, 2000; Jones, 2017), we do not yet fully understand pregnant employees' experiences. We focus our chapter on the role of pregnancy in the workplace and how cultural and organizational norms, discrimination, and identity management can affect women's experiences and well-being. Pregnancy discrimination has been found to be a prevalent occurrence in organizations representing a substantial number of claims brought against employers by women (Salihu, Myers, & August, 2012). Understanding the processes through which pregnant employees can either thrive or decline is not only important for the well-being of employees, but also for the organization.