By Inimai Chettiar
When I found out I was pregnant, even though I work for a women’s rights organization a sudden bolt of anxiety ripped through me: how would I let my board and team know that I was pregnant so soon after accepting a position as President? It didn’t help that I knew this would be no ordinary pregnancy.
Like many women, I suffer from pregnancy complications, but in my case two pregnancy-related disabilities make working in a traditional setting near impossible. I would need accommodations, including the ability to turn my camera off during video meetings, time off for weekly doctor’s appointments, and understanding that my in-person ability is limited.
Luckily, I work for a nonprofit that advocates for pregnant women, caregivers, and people with medical issues and provides a remote work environment. Still, I wondered: how would they react to my news?
I’m not alone. I’ve talked to countless women over the years who have confided in me that they’ve needed to hide their pregnancies from their employers for fear of being sidelined or even fired. During the pandemic, women told me that the silver lining was that their companies didn’t know they were pregnant because their bottom half was hidden on Zoom calls.
But the pendulum is unfortunately now swinging in another direction. The federal government is the country’s largest employer, and one of the Trump Administration’s first acts in office was to order federal workers to return to the office—pulling the rug out from under women and caregivers who rely on the ability to work from home. Many private employers have done the same, leaving women wondering how they’ll continue to grow and care for their families without fear of discrimination.
My pregnancy disabilities are impossible to hide. Nor would I want to have to deal with them in secret. I have hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition affecting 2 percent of pregnant women, where pregnancy itself makes you severely ill. It causes 24/7 severe nausea and vomiting, which leaves me debilitated, unable to leave the house due to vomiting up to 20 times a day and needing frequent ER visits for dehydration.
Hyperemesis in my pregnancies lasts from conception until delivery. Medicines can’t control it, they can only make it less severe. It has caused me bruised ribs, a strained retina, pulled chest muscles, a tear in my esophagus, and damaged teeth. It’s difficult to go out in public. I often faint in the mornings because brushing my teeth and a quick shower overexerts me.
I also have symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), in which your pubic bone starts separating too quickly, too early in preparation for delivery. My SPD also lasts from early pregnancy to delivery and makes any movement torturously painful. I cannot take a step, roll over, move from standing to sitting, bend down, or climb a stair without extreme pain. SPD affects 1 in 5 pregnant women, but mine is a severe case. There’s no real treatment other than physical therapy and simply waiting for delivery, as strong pain meds and heating pads aren’t allowed in pregnancy. Most women with severe SPD are in wheelchairs or walkers.
Even with remote work, my job requires back-to-back video calls from 9am to 6pm, which is difficult for me. I brought the issue to our executive team, who instituted a policy to make video optional for internal calls to accommodate people with disabilities and other conditions that prevent us from sitting at a desk without a break.
My board of directors and staff are also understanding that I cannot schedule in-person meetings unless they are crucial. One way on public transportation to the city takes 90 minutes (bus, subway, and a lot of walking and stairs), which is unfeasible in my condition—New York City is one of the worst places for pregnant, disabled, and elderly people to get around.
In addition to these disabilities, I need weekly monitoring in the hospital due to my history of placental insufficiency. Yet my job is fine with me taking time out for these appointments because I make up the work evenings and weekends. My organization also provides unlimited sick leave, flexible work schedules for people who need them, and three months paid family and medical leave. Due to all this, I’m able to continue working full speed as a new President to advance our work.
But most women aren’t as fortunate as I am. Many employers don’t offer these kinds of accommodations, even though some are legally required under the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act. This is why many of the 40,000 women in my online hyperemesis support group were forced onto disability, had to quit their jobs, or were fired.
Many, like me, are the primary or equal earner in their family and can’t afford to lose their income. To survive, some go into financial debt or strain, while others have abortions as they are forced to choose between keeping a roof over their head and having a child.
About 5.5 million women are pregnant each year in the U.S., with at least 8% (about 440,000) experiencing very serious complications. Women of color are more likely to experience severe complications, with Black mothers 3.2 times more likely and Native Americans 2.3 times more likely. More than 1 million women of childbearing age, including me, have long term disabilities due to chronic physical illnesses that cause mobility difficulties. It can’t be the right answer to just shut all of us out of employment because we can’t travel to an office or do manual labor.
Imagine a world in which all people who are pregnant, disabled, or have medical conditions are given support that allow us to keep contributing to the economy, earning a living, and taking care of ourselves and our babies. As a woman who not only understands the policy implications when workplaces don’t make accommodations, but knows firsthand how debilitating these conditions can be, I have a deep desire to ensure that all employers implement policies that help and that our laws support this.
To other pregnant women, with and without complications, you shouldn’t have to hide your pregnancy or your disability or put you or your baby at risk in order to work. Our laws and workplaces should look out for us so we can remain productive and active members of society.
If you believe your rights to accommodations or leave for pregnancy or any medical or disability reason are being violated, call A Better Balance’s free legal helpline at 1-833-NEED-ABB.
Inimai Chettiar spent 15 years in the fight for criminal justice reform as a nonprofit lawyer at the ACLU and Brennan Center, and due to a harrowing journey to become a mother, recently switched into gender justice field to be the President of A Better Balance, one of the country’s foremost advocacy organizations for pregnancy accommodations, paid leave, and workplace policy advancements for women and families.
