When school officials at the Seventh-day Adventist Linden School in Queens, NY discovered that Jewel Redhead was pregnant, they first asked her if she planned to marry the father of her unborn child. When she said no, they fired her. Now, Redhead, who is a Columbia University graduate, is suing:
Redhead, who grew up a Seventh-day Adventist in Trinidad, said her problems began when the school's superintendent found out she was expecting a child and wasn't married.She said her boss asked her whether she planned to eventually wed her baby daddy.
When Redhead responded no, the supervisor said, "We're going to have to terminate you," she claimed.
"How can you fire me for being pregnant?" Redhead said she asked - breaking into tears as she relayed her version of the conversation to jurors.
"That's how it's done," the superintendent allegedly answered.
Ross Weaver, the lawyer for the school, said Redhead "violated one of the basic precepts of the Seventh-day Adventist Church" by having premarital sex - and that the school was within its rights to get rid of her.
OK - there are two things wrong with this story. One is that this school fired a woman based on her marital status. They deserved to get sued. The other... "baby daddy?" Really? We can use that sort of 'hip' language in the newspaper because Jewel Redhead is black, right? Classy, New York Post .
(crossposted from The Feminist Underground )
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Jewel Redhead?
I hate hate hate when I see this it's disturbing to me that so many schools use supposed morals as a way to fire so many good teachers...she had sex before she was married...so how does that affect her ability to teach...there are even schools that require their teachers to sign morality clauses forcing them to hide the fact that they are gay or that they aren't married but living with someone...it has no baring on their ability to teach or how they relate to the students...and ever notice that it is usually the women are the one to suffer and get fired, but not the men...
Oh and baby's daddy...that just needs to be stricken from any kind of news source's vocabulary...it is unneccessary and demeaning to use it as a word in a professional piece is just classless...and wrong...
As unfair as it is that this woman was fired for a seemingly ridiculous reason, she most likely realized when she took the job that she would have to adhere to moral as well as professional guidelines. I went to Catholic high school, and the same thing was true for teachers there. In fact, their contracts supposedly make mention of the fact that they can't openly defy Catholic teaching or they risk losing their job.
I feel badly for this woman, but once again, she CHOSE to work at a religious school. Religious/private schools are allowed to set their own guidelines for hiring and firing faculty - it's why they're independent of the public school system.
How is it unfair? As the comments suggest, when one takes employment in a system with certain rules and then breaks the rules and then is asked to leave the system, how is it unfair? The "women are the ones to get fired not the men" argument fits a certain template and view of the world, there are no facts in this case supporting that view. In fact, all the evidence was to the contrary in that men and women are subject to the same "unfair" rule in this system.
The whole point of religious education is not limited to academics, but also includes transmitting values. That is why parents chose religious education. When someone openly violates those values and is allowed to remain in the classroom, its tells the students that the values are unimportant. Why is this a "ridiculous reason"? Here in the United States people are still allowed to adhere to their values, even when those that are not stylish. By the way, the judge in this case agreed and the school won the case.
Oh, Paigeash, you took the words right out my mouth. I just can't get past that.
Regarding the "morality clause":
I would not normally argue against the school which is a private theological institution having a set of employment guidelines based on their religious credo and their right to terminate an employee for violating those guidelines; however if, as Ms. Redhead stated, they asked if her intent was to marry the father of her child and they are stating that the termination is for premarital sex well then something does not add up. It seems like they were willing to keep her employed if she were to marry this man, even though the issue of premarital sex would remain unchanged. So it seems they were willing to go against their own beliefs up to a point. This, if proven, might be a factor in a judgment or arbitration.
Also, since she does not plan to marry she hasn't engaged in premarital sex.
What's so funny about her name, btw? I don't get that at all.
The "baby daddy" thing is just stupid. I don't care if you're a POC or not, I hate that term. Poor language skills don't make the user seem cool, they make the user seem like a moron.
Use of vernacular does not automatically equal poor language skills, Logrus. Many people navigate in and out of standard classroom English, playground English, regional vernacular, and cultural vernacular quite easily. This kind of navigation requires *good language skills*.
The fact that certain vernaculars are seen as making people seem like "morons" says more about the value system placed on various vernaculars than it says about anyone's intelligence.
Words are used to communicate and relate with others. There are a lot of social politics around why certain cultural or regional vernaculars are more acceptable than others (there are LOTS of common words that aren't standard classroom English, but still aren't met with the vehemence or level of "makes-user-sound-like-a-moron" sentiment that is directed at black vernacular English).
That said, I think the trend of the media co-opting cultural vernacular like "baby daddy" in stories about POC is completely inappropriate and racist.