Policy on discrimination because of pregnancy and breastfeeding
IV. Pregnancy and Other Grounds of Discrimination Under the Code
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1. Pregnancy and Intersecting Code Grounds
A woman’s experience of discrimination based on pregnancy may differ based on other aspects of her identity. There are unique and persistent negative stereotypes about pregnant women who are parenting on their own, or who are young, have a disability, are in receipt of social assistance, are racialized or Aboriginal, or are lesbian or bisexual. For example, young mothers, especially when they are parenting on their own, are often stereotyped as irresponsible and lacking parenting skills, and may therefore face discrimination in housing. Similarly, some women experience negative attitudes if they are pregnant or have had a child “out of wedlock”, regardless of whether they are in a long-term, committed relationship.[12]
As well, some pregnant women may have unique needs and experience specific barriers related to other aspects of their identities. There may be, for example, a lack of appropriate and accessible services and supports for pregnant women who have disabilities.
Mothers who are young, parenting on their own, have a disability, or are racialized or Aboriginal are disproportionately poor, and therefore especially vulnerable to the effects of discrimination.
2. Pregnancy and Family Status
Human rights protections against discrimination based on pregnancy are related closely to those based on family status. Family status is defined in the Code as “the status of being in a parent and child relationship”.[13] This ground extends protection to persons who are providing care within a parent-child “type” of relationship, including both eldercare and care for young children.[14] Situations may arise where discrimination based on pregnancy overlaps with discrimination based on family status. For example, a new mother in the immediate post-natal period will be covered by the grounds of both pregnancy and family status.
Pregnancy discrimination and family status discrimination are often based on the same stereotypes and negative attitudes, such as the perception on the part of some employers that mothers are less capable, committed and competent than other employees, or negative attitudes towards children on the part of some landlords. Employers or housing providers sometimes discriminate on the basis of pregnancy in order to avoid dealing with a woman’s family status-related needs at a later date.
Many women who are pregnant also already have children; they may therefore simultaneously experience discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and family status.
3. Pregnancy and Domestic Abuse
There is research indicating that pregnant women may be at greater risk of domestic violence, and that women experiencing domestic violence may be subjected to higher levels of violence during a pregnancy.[15]
Women who are facing violence in the home can end up being disciplined, or even losing their jobs because of rigid absenteeism policies. As well, the fact that landlords do discriminate against single mothers with children can place women who are attempting to leave abusive relationships at serious risk. They may end up returning to an abusive relationship because they have literally nowhere else to go.[16]
[12] In Johnston v.
Poloskey (2008), CHRR Doc. 08-079, 2008 BCHRT 55, a case in which a
British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found that a woman had been discriminated
against on the basis of pregnancy, the Tribunal found that one of the reasons
that the employer (a husband and wife) decided not to continue the woman’s
employment was because they disapproved of the fact that she was pregnant and
unmarried, even though they knew and were friendly with the man who was her
long-term common-law companion and the father of her child.
[13] Ontario Human Rights
Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H-19, s. 10(1).
[14] See further, Ontario Human
Rights Commission, Policy and
Guidelines on Discrimination on the Basis of Family Status, (March 28, 2007)
.
[15] See Health Canada,
“Physical Abuse During Pregnancy”, (February 2004), available online
at www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/fhs-ssg/factshts/abuseprg-e.html.
While Canadian data on physical abuse during pregnancy is limited, the 1993
Violence Against Women Survey indicated that forty percent of the surveyed women
who were abused during pregnancy reported that the abuse began during their
pregnancy, and women abused during pregnancy were four times as likely as other
abused women to report having experienced very serious violence. In another
study, 64% of surveyed women who were physically abused during their pregnancies
reported that the abuse increased during the pregnancy.
[16] These issues were raised during
the Commission’s 2005 public consultations on Discrimination on the Basis
of Family Status. See Ontario Human Rights Commission, The Cost of Caring,
Report on the Consultation on Discrimination on the Basis of Family
Status (November 29, 2006) at page 10.
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