‘Equal Means Equal’: Documentarian speaks at college

April 24--CUMBERLAND -- Apparently, giving birth is considered a disability.

At least that's what new mom Jessica Robinette had to agree to before collecting any income during her recent maternity leave.

"The only way you would get paid for maternity leave, is if you have PTO (paid time off) or you filed for short-term disability," she said.

The Family and Medical Act, federal law requiring "obligated" companies to allow up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, passed in 1993.

Twenty-five years later, the U.S. remains the only developed nation in the world without mandated paid maternity leave.

To supplement for the lack of income, some women may apply for short-term disability.

Lucky for Robinette, her company provides short-term disability insurance. However, she must first use all paid time off before applying.

After using a week's paid vacation, she was approved to receive four weeks' short-term disability. During that time, Robinette will only collect 60 percent of her regular pay.

At least seven weeks of Robinette's maternity leave will go completely unpaid.

California based film director Kamala Lopez said gender inequalities facing women in the U.S. -- such as pregnancy discrimination --inspired her 2016 documentary film "Equal Means Equal."

Lopez recently spoke at the Allegany College of Maryland Zimmer Theatre.

A partnership between ACM, Frostburg State University and Maryland NOW, the event was in honor of Women's History Month.

Dozens of community members, city officials, area students and educators gathered at the theater for a special screening of the film, followed by a question and answer session with Lopez.

Lopez hopes the documentary will spark a movement, ultimately leading to the passage of the equal rights amendment to ensure women are protected under the Constitution.

"The equal rights amendment is such a critical first step in providing women with basic civil and human rights under the constitution it just can't be ignored as the most important first step," Lopez said.

The amendment would guarantee equal rights for all U.S. citizens regardless of sex. This way, clear legal distinctions between sexes would be possible, closing inequalities between men in women based on income, property and what Lopez calls "gender bias."

"I think it would kick in immediate universal child care," she said, "because our lawyers would prove that the situation, at the moment, is unfairly weighted with a gender bias, in terms of the unfairly of child care and how society handles that sort of thing.

One of those gender bias, Lopez said, is maternity leave.

"We would have to look at the way other countries handle kids, and not the way we do, where we kind of ignore the fact that they exist," she said.

Far from a new concept, the equal rights amendment was written by American suffragist Alice Paul in 1923.

It only took about 50 years before the legislation passed both house of Congress in 1972, but failed when only 35 states out of the 38 needed ratified the amendment.

But the amendment experienced new life in March 2017 when Nevada signed on as the 36th state to support the act.

'It's not very crazy," Lopez said about the amendment.

"It's just a matter that the forces of money don't want that to happen because they don't want to pay us and they want to keep us in our place and we have to finish this job -- Now," she said.

Follow staff writer Heather Wolford on Twitter @heatherbwolford.

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