Why Women Hide Their Pregnancies

LAST week, Yahoo’s new chief executive, Marissa Mayer, gave birth to a baby boy. When she was hired in July, late in her second trimester, bloggers and newspaper columnists celebrated the breaking of another pane in the glass ceiling. Pregnant women, it seemed, could be hired for top jobs. Given the many breathless and celebratory “bump watches” in tabloids, it might seem that the stigma around working while pregnant has finally lifted. The birth of Ms. Mayer’s son came only a week after the host of the Emmys, Jimmy Kimmel, introduced the actress Claire Danes with the line, “Our next presenter has a baby in her.” Ms. Danes traversed the stage in a bright yellow dress that emphasized her fertile form.

For the rich and powerful, pregnancy might not be an obstacle — it might even help one’s career. But for the rest of us, it remains a hindrance.

Although federal law prohibits companies with 15 or more employees from discriminating against pregnant job seekers, it can be quite hard for an ordinary woman to land a job if she lets prospective bosses know she is pregnant.

My own pregnant friends tend to cover up, literally and figuratively. Meeting with prospective employers, like law firms and news organizations, they hide their bumps under oversize jackets or slouchy sweaters. I met one for dinner after her job interview and she was wearing a giant, gray, cabled sweater. “I am not telling them that I am about to enter my second trimester,” she said, pointing to the heavy knit. She got the job, and when she accepted, she revealed her status, soon sensing her new boss’s displeasure.

At work, her 36-year-old colleague was afraid to get pregnant at all for fear she would not get promoted. These fears are not unreasonable. Claims of discrimination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from pregnant women are increasing, having risen 23 percent from 2005 to 2011.

Proposed legislation meant to help pregnant workers was introduced in the Senate last month. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would require employers to offer workplace accommodations for pregnant women, like exempting them from duties that involve heavy lifting and offering them plenty of water breaks, among other things — the same sort of accommodations offered to disabled workers.

The experience of regular women is sadly very far from that of celebrities. Among the complaints filed with the E.E.O.C. in September was one against J’s Seafood Restaurant in Panama City, Fla. Two servers had been fired the preceding October after, the lawsuit claims, the restaurant became aware of their pregnancies. Another suit alleges that Bayou City Wings, a chain restaurant in Houston, forced employees to leave after their first trimesters, telling them it was “irresponsible” to keep working after they had become pregnant.

So what separates your everyday waitress from Ms. Mayer and Ms. Danes? Simply put, a server is easily replaceable in the eyes of management. In contrast, in the case of Yahoo, the company was struggling to find a savior, and there were few options. Ms. Mayer, pregnant or not, was deemed their best option. Ms. Danes, of course, carried the Emmy juggernaut for the show “Homeland” and has helped boost the visibility of the cable network Showtime. When reporting on a pregnant microelite, we should think twice before celebrating the idea that the glass ceiling has been shattered in a meaningful way.

Of course, employers can be put in a bind when workers take maternity time, and keeping a pregnant woman on the payroll can be an economic drag, especially if companies offer decent paid leaves. We might want to consider easing the burden on employers by offering a tax credit.

But the most important reason to end discrimination against pregnant women has to do with what kind of society we want to live in. We can admit that pregnant workers may be less profitable employees than nonpregnant workers in the short term, yet choose to value aspects of life beyond economic productivity. We may also want to protect pregnant workers simply so we don’t become a culture of deceit in the workplace. Women shouldn’t feel that they have to betray their own ethics and pretend — sometimes for months — that they aren’t pregnant when they are.

In an economy where women now make up half the work force, we’re going to have to address the treatment of pregnant employees more systemically. The passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would better protect against the discrimination pregnant job seekers face. With luck, one day, women will be able to flaunt their gestational status in a job interview in the same way Claire Danes, in her yellow dress, flaunted it at the Emmys.