Unit 8
Pregnancy and Child Rearing

Overview

For feminists, the question of how to recognize and accommodate women’s role as mothers has proved contentious. Women’s childbearing capacity is one of the clearest signs of women’s difference from men. (At the same time, some feminists reject defining women as a class by a biological characteristic.) Until recently, it has been difficult to prevent the use of women’s childbearing capacity to justify differential treatment for women.

In addition, debates over the proper level of state support for child rearing have arisen, addressing different ways in which the state may try to alleviate economic pressure on mothers who need or wish to work outside the home. The different needs of professional and non-professional women complicate these debates. This unit provides an entrance point to these complex issues.

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, students should be able to

1. outline the significance of pregnancy and child rearing to women’s overall social equality.
2. trace the evolution of Supreme Court outcomes for the plaintiffs in Bliss and Brooks.
3. describe the concept of adverse impact discrimination.
4. identify and evaluate the equality claim that Beth Symes made in her appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
5. evaluate the majority and dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court in the Symes case.
6. discuss why Symes was a controversial case among feminists.