Author: Dina Bakst

Dina Bakst is co-founder, senior advisor and president emerita of A Better Balance, a national legal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace and helping workers care for their families without risking their economic security.

Winning the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: A Landmark Victory for Women, Families and Democracy

The passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) on Dec. 23, 2022, marked a historic civil rights victory more than a decade in the making. 

The core principle behind this landmark legislation is simple, as I argued in The New York Times over a decade ago—an op-ed which ultimately led to the bill’s introduction: No woman in this country should have to choose between her job and a healthy pregnancy.

(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)

Pregnant and Finally Protected

A Better Balance released a new report, “Pregnant and Finally Protected,” detailing how the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act has shifted the paradigm and finally put the law squarely on the side of pregnant workers. Similar to the ADA, the PWFA guarantees an affirmative right to accommodations for millions of workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions. No longer can a pregnant worker be forced off the job when a temporary accommodation can keep them healthy and attached to the workforce.