We are NOT amused.

[orbitaldiamonds]

I just finished watching Your Business on MSNBC.

Towards the end of the show, the host and panel answer reader emails.

One of the emails was about what a small business owner was to do regarding maternity leave. He knew he couldn't afford to pay for the maternity leave but he wanted to be fair.

The two panelists--both men--both said that the business owner would have to decide if it was worth keeping the pregnant woman on and granting her maternity leave. One said that the business owner should make a policy regarding all female employees, and the other said that it was okay to grant some women maternity leave and some not based on how vital they were to the country.

So let's see what this woman's possible options are:

1. Work as usual until she pops, and be back bright and early the next day. Not good even in a low-risk pregnancy. Impossible in a high-risk pregnancy.

2. Work from home, if possible, by computer, or do some kind of flex-time.

Or, as these guys are suggesting...

3. Get fired, for daring to be the female of the species and reproduce.

(So paternity leave is totally out of the question, I take it?)

Okay, I know that they're talking about a small business here, but what the actual fuck?

I am ashamed, as an American, that this is even an issue. Is this how the world's biggest superpower treats its women? (Answer: Yes, it is.)

We can has socialist nanny sate nao?

Comments

[trouble]

That was in the UK, but I think the attitude is fairly universal. The only small business owners I've talked to here are my mom, and Don, both of whom find the idea of not hiring women absurd, but that's a very small sample size.

[orbitaldiamonds]

Gotcha.

*sigh of sad-state-of-affairs-is-saaaad*