Job Discussion Forums

[Lady Optima]

Hello, sorry if this topic has already been touched on here. I am about to go to Japan for the April (teachers')Cattle Call, and I was wondering if anybody knew what happens if a teacher becomes pregnant or is pregnant when they arrive? Are they hustled out of the country? Is it completely shamefull/ void contract/ dire consequences/ never allowed to come in Japan again kind of thing, or not really a big deal/ will work around it/ complete the contract later, type of situation?

I am married, and though we are not trying for a baby, act of God is always a possibility. I would not want to jeopardize my livelyhood or have to break my contract, but if it happened do I need to be really, really worried? Is it socially acceptable?

I also do not want to alarm my school by asking, if this is not something they would not appreciate.

I am not currently pregnant BTW.

Please let me know! Thank you.

[kah5217]

Good question. I would imagine the consequences would be different for a married woman than for an unmarried woman.

[OneJoelFifty]

I think in your case, assuming you were able to work as normal, it should be fine. But then when you had to stop work and have the baby, you would lose your contract. A lot of dispatch companies (I'm assuming dispatch as you're coming in April) don't even make health insurance contributions or pay full salary for the summer break, so you can guess whether or not they would give you maternity leave.

I would like to hear from someone who's had experience with this though.

[Apsara]

No, there is nothing shameful about a married woman, foreign or Japanese, being pregnant and working here! When I was pregnant I continued working part time at an eikaiwa until I was 7.5 months, and at my other part time jobs (translating, editing, office assistant) until 8 months. There is no way you will be hustled out of the country, although on a working visa, once you stop working there would be the issue of your visa status- if your husband has a working visa then you will be able to continue living in Japan as a dependent with no issues.

I am married to a Japanese national so my visa status isn't dependent on my job, but I have friends who are married to other foreigners and have given birth here.

Japanese women tend to (but not always!) go on maternity leave/quit earlier than women in English-speaking countries do, so particularly if you are working as an ALT I would expect pressure to start increasing for you to quit as you approached about 6 months, especially if you are in a more rural area. I have no direct experience with this so am just surmising, but being familiar with general attitudes about pregnancy here that is what I would tend to expect.

Whether you could go back to work for the same company/school later would depend on the individual situation- getting into full time daycare in the larger cities can be quite competitive, and depending on your contract the job may not be held open for you until you come back.

If you were pregnant when you arrived I very much doubt you would be fired straight away, but since it would be obvious that you wouldn't be able to finish a year-long contract the schools might not be very impressed.

[kah5217]

I had to wade through quite a bunch of nasty search results, but I found this from Interac's union page:

http://interacunion.org/2009/09/21/interac-and-pregnancy/

[Glenski]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Get pregnant, and you are entitled to the same rights as any Japanese woman who gets pregnant when on a one-year contract that is not automatically renewed. It shouldn't be a big surprise if/ when the contract isn't renewed. A company doesn't want to pay maternity leave if they don't have to. And because of the way almost all contracts are done with foreigners, they DON'T have to.

And interviewing actually starts before feb/ march. December isn't that uncommon, and I've had interviews as early as October before. The major bulk of it is Feb march, though.

[Glenski]

Yes, some jobs (ALT) could be interviewing in December and January. My earlier statement about cattle call was about the peak time, as you said, G.

Your point about not being renewed may be a valid one. Depends on the employer's views of the teacher, I would think, and whether they want to keep her. But, even so, they will suffer down time that they may not want to incur.

I got the impression that the OP was more concerned about how the work atmosphere would be as a pregnant working teacher. My Japanese wife says not to worry about that, but who can say what bosses think?

[Lady Optima]

"Lady Optima wrote: Hello, sorry if this topic has already been touched on here. I am about to go to Japan for the April (teachers')Cattle Call..."

Glenski wrote: "There is no such thing. April is the time when people start their jobs. The cattle call (interviewing time) happens in Feb/March."

Yeah, sorry that I am not yet up to speed and somehow misused the esoteric jargon of seasoned professional; would I have been more correct, and you less offended if I had said "The April Teachers' Stampede" instead? I am also pretty sure I know when my contract starts, but I appreciate the reminder also.

After this post, I promise I will never again try to lighten the mood with my irreverence (if I ever write again).

That said, Glenski, I DO appreciate the advice that followed, and thank you everyone who took the time to consider and respond. I will read it all carefully.

[Cool Teacher]