Profane Pregnant Bodies Versus Sacred Organizational Systems
Exploring Pregnancy Discrimination at Work (R2)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21464580 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline Gatrell (0000-0003-3134-3252, University of Liverpool, corresponding author), JAMIE LADGE (0000-0003-0655-9828, Northeastern University), Jamie J Ladge, Gary N Powell (0000-0002-0415-2402, University of Connecticut) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 192 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 527-542 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Business Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-4544 • E-ISSN: 1573-0697 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10551-023-05518-6 |
| OpenAlex | W4386244409 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 58 |
This paper explores how pregnancy discrimination at work is perceived by both employers and pregnant employees. Using a public, qualitative dataset collected by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission that offers perspectives from both employers and pregnant employees, we explore the unfair and unethical treatment of pregnant employees at work. Our findings show how pregnant workers are expected to conform with workplace systems that are treated as sacred. We suggest that employer valorization of the mythical figure of ‘ideal worker’ disadvantages pregnant workers. We observe how, even if this contravenes maternity protection laws, some employers self-justify discrimination against pregnant employees who they perceive to have transgressed ‘appropriate’ workplace behaviors as ethical and reasonable. To illuminate and conceptualize the notion of transgression, our analysis has led us to the ideas of philosopher Georges Bataille, specifically his reflections on how individuals who ‘transgress’ social norms are treated as taboo, as well as his metaphorical descriptions of people and practices as either sacred or profane. We theorize that pregnant workers who are treated as profane should be reclassified as sacred, opening up this idea for debate so as to disrupt long-standing patterns of discrimination
Business ethics · Commission · Political science · Public health · Quality of Life Research · Sociology · Taboo · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology
Generating Academic Capital Through Travel
Women's Career Success in the Financial Services Industry
(In)justice Dynamics Around Maternity Leave
Female leaders' journey after childbirth
Advancing gender equality through context-sensitive work-family support for breastfeeding
Representation of the Female Body in the Workplace
And then I undress the work’
From Announcing Their Pregnancy to Returning to Work
Revolting Subjects
No Woman is Like a Man (in Academia)
“Opting Out” or “Pushed Out”? Integrating Perspectives on Women’s Career Equality for Gender Inclusion and Interventions
Tackling Taboo Topics
Cross-Domain Identity Transition during Liminal Periods
Leaky Bodies and Boundaries
The Case for Parentalism at Work
Qualitative Researching
Bodies
Masculinities
Othering the ‘leaky body’. An autoethnographic story about expressing breast milk in the workplace
Pregnancy as Project
A Southern encounter
The Suffering Mother and the Miserable Son
Policy and the Pregnant Body at Work
Body Beautiful? Gender, Identity and the Body in Professional Services Firms
Cultural Schemas, Social Class, and the Flexibility Stigma
Maternal body work
Identity transition during pregnancy
Sense of Entitlement to Support for the Reconciliation of Employment and Family Life
It's `give and take
I'm a bad mum
Whose Body Matters? Feminist Sociology and the Corporeal Turn in Sociology and Feminism
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women
Hard Labour
Relational Power, Legitimation, and Pregnancy Discrimination
The Sacred, Heterology and Transparency
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |