- Research suggests that while pregnancy can be an exciting and wonderful time in women’s life, it is not always seen positively in work environments. Subordinates, colleagues, and supervisors can hold negative stereotypes about pregnant women at work. We examined how women perceive their pregnancy at work and the possible negative perceptions that could be associated with it in two papers.We interviewed pregnant workers in 2015 to better understand their concerns regarding balancing work and pregnancy. The study was designed to examine women’s work concerns in light of the huge change that comes with becoming pregnant. Instead, we found that women were not concerned about their own perceptions changing significantly during pregnancy. They were more concerned about how others view them. In particular, 80 percent of women interviewed were worried about their professional image and how others would perceive their character and competence at work because of their pregnancy.
Interviewees expressed concern about discrimination and stigmatization as well as their professional image at work. Because they were expecting and soon to become mothers, they did not want to be treated less well at work. They engaged in two kinds of behavior to preserve their professional image before they became pregnant. These are what we first call image maintenance. They are actions that aim to preserve and maintain the professional image of pre-pregnancy. Women said they maintained a pre-pregnancy pace at their jobs, which included not asking for special accommodations or reducing maternity leave. They also reported that they went the extra mile to maintain positive attitudes in others’ eyes. One woman stated, “I made sure — it was tempting to call in sick so often — but I always made certain that I was actually at my job, and not using pregnancy excuses, I suppose.” Although I could have taken more sick days than I did I did, I didn’t want my children to think, “Oh, she can’t handle it.”
We call this decategorization. These are actions that aim to avoid negative outcomes, such as hiding or avoiding the problem. We don’t believe women should hide their pregnancy or make more effort to break the stereotypes associated with it. However, we found that many do so in order to avoid any negative consequences at work. One woman said, “I didn’t want to tell them.” It’s a small company, so you have to think about what you would do if you were pregnant. . . I was afraid they would hire someone to replace my job, so I didn’t want them to know.
We also wanted to know the consequences of these behaviors and so, did an additional study to better understand how these behaviours relate to perceived discrimination, burnout, as well as the likelihood to return work. Image maintenance, which is the practice of maintaining a pre-pregnancy pace at their workplace, not asking for special accommodations, reducing maternity leave or going the extra mile, was associated with less discrimination and lower levels of burnout. These outcomes were not affected by the decategorization strategy. However, women who felt devalued at work due to their pregnancy experienced more burnout, and perceived discrimination.
We wanted to better understand the effects of these behaviors on stress, especially in stressful work environments. We found that organisations can vary in how supportive they are of their employees’ families. This makes it difficult for pregnant women navigate unsupportive environments. We wanted to understand how image maintenance strategies can have positive effects on work outcomes like burnout and return-to-work. These strategies would be more popular among women who live in hostile environments. We also hypothesized that these strategies would have a greater impact on stress-related outcomes.
This study was conducted by asking women about their workplace support. We also asked them to describe how work-family conflict (where work interferes with family time), work-family conflict and how much stress they experienced at the start of their pregnancy. We next asked women how often they engaged in image maintenance or decategorization behaviours. We also measured work-family conflict at the end of pregnancy, work-family conflict, and work stress.
The results showed that women who live in unsupportive environments are more likely than those in supportive environments to experience work-family conflict and stress during pregnancy. They also tend to engage in image maintenance and decategorisation behaviours. It is also important to choose the right coping strategy because decategorization behaviours can increase work-family conflict during pregnancy. Image maintenance behaviours are more likely to increase work engagement and decrease work-family conflict.
Take a look at the opening quote of one of our participants. Her experience highlights the many strategies and concerns that women use during pregnancy to reduce stress and manage their impressions. We found that pregnant women are very concerned about how they look at work and therefore, employ strategies to manage this image. These results are contrary to the common belief that mothers and pregnant women are less engaged at work. We also found that pregnant women who have experienced more stress during their pregnancies and engage in image management behaviors are more vulnerable to unsupportive environments.
Pregnant employees don’t wait for organisations to fix their environments. They can manage their professional image at work and, in some cases minimize the negative effects of an unsupportive environment on work-family conflict. We may be asking too much from these pregnant supervisors and coworkers. It is encouraging to see pregnant women manage their image issues in the workplace. We hope more organizations will alleviate this burden and create supportive environments for families where these concerns don’t arise.
Notes:
- This blog post is based upon the papers Managing the detrimental effects of unsupportive organisations during pregnancy, Journal of Applied Psychology 2018, 103(6) 631-643. Professional Image Maintenance: How women navigate pregnancy in the workplace, Laura Little, Virginia Smith Major and Amanda S. Hinojosa, Academy of Management Journal 2015, Vol. 58, No. 1
- The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s), and not LSE Business Review.
- Credit for the featured image: Photo by Andrew Seaman at Unsplash
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Laura Little Laura Little is the Synovus Director of The Institute for Leadership Advancement. She is also an associate professor in management at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
Amanda Hinojosa, assistant professor of management at Howard University School of Business, is her name. Her research is focused on diversity, the intersection between work and family, leader/follower relations, employee job search, and recruitment. Her 2016 research on professional image maintenance in pregnant women was named the Academy of Management Journal’s Best Paper. This paper was also a finalist in the Rosabeth Moss Kanter award for research on work-family. Dr. Hinojosa teaches courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and staffing, as well as compensation. Texas Tech University awarded her her doctorate.
Sam PaustianUnderdahl, assistant professor of management, Florida State University. Her work focuses on improving employee and organizational well-being. Her research is focused on the work-family interface and gender diversity in organisations. She also studies leadership in the contexts of work and organizations. She has a B.S. She holds a B.S. in psychology from the University of Georgia and a M.A. She holds a PhD in organisational psychology from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She was previously employed by Florida International University as an assistant professor in management. In 2015, she was named Top Scholar and received Best Professor and Best Course Teaching awards from FIU MBA students in 2017.
Kate P. Zipay, assistant professor of management at University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business and a graduate of University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business’ management department, is currently a member of the University of Oregon’s management department. Before pursuing her doctoral program, she was an auditor in public accounting at a Big Four firm. Her research focuses on the impact of life outside work (e.g. leisure, hobbies, side-jobs, family situations etc.). on work performance, well-being, and the social and emotional results of justice, fairness and leniency at the workplace; as well as the unique role that nostalgia plays in building employee resources and relationships.
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About
Laura Little
Laura Little, Synovus Director of The Institute for Leadership Advancement, is associate professor in management at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
Sam Paustian-Underdahl
Sam PaustianUnderdahl, assistant professor of management at Florida State University, is a. Her work focuses on improving employee and organizational well-being. Her research is focused on the work-family interface and gender diversity in organisations. She also studies leadership in the contexts of work and organizations. She has a B.S. She holds a B.S. in psychology from the University of Georgia and a M.A. She holds a PhD in organisational psychology from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She was previously employed by Florida International University as an assistant professor in management. In 2015, she was named Top Scholar and received Best Professor and Best Course Teaching awards from FIU MBA students in 2017.
Amanda Hinojosa
Amanda Hinojosa, assistant professor of management at Howard University School of Business, is her name. Her research is focused on diversity, the intersection between work and family, leader/follower relations, employee job search, and recruitment. Her 2016 research on professional image maintenance in pregnant women was named the Academy of Management Journal’s Best Paper. This paper was also a finalist in the Rosabeth Moss Kanter award for research on work-family. Dr. Hinojosa teaches courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and staffing, as well as compensation. Texas Tech University awarded her her doctorate.
Kate P. Zipay
Kate P. Zipay, assistant professor of management at University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business and a graduate of University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business’ management department, is currently a member of the Management Department. Prior to pursuing her doctoral program, she was an auditor in public accounting at a Big Four accounting company. Her research focuses on the impact of life outside work (e.g. leisure, hobbies, side-jobs, family situations etc.). on work performance, well-being, and the social and emotional results of justice, fairness and leniency at the workplace; as well as the unique role that nostalgia plays in building employee resources and relationships.