Nicolas Marcelle Dimaculangan

12- Loyalty

Teacher’s Rights, Women’s Rights, Make Society Unite and Right!

In today’s generation, there are consistent issues that has been

happening today that involves religion, education, and so much more. One of
these issues is about the case of unmarried teachers getting fired for being
pregnant. According to ABC News, a former teacher at a private Catholic
school in central Pennsylvania claims she was fired for being pregnant and
unmarried in December, 2018. The question is, “Do unmarried teachers
deserve to get fired for being pregnant?” Well, the Bible states that it is a sin
for someone to have sex when unmarried; however, there are some priests
who commit hypocrisy, for they molested children which is against the Bible
too. Unmarried teachers should not get fired for being pregnant when the
cause is reasonable. An example would be becoming a victim of sexual
harassment, not being part of the law, and discrimination to women. These
are reasons why unmarried teachers should not be fired when the it is
reasonable. Women’s rights are on the line here.

It was stated in the Bible that it is a sin for people to conduct

intercourse before getting married. All catholic schools have this policy since
they expect teachers to be representatives of God and moral educators to
students. The incident happened in Central Pennsylvania Catholic high
school when a teacher claimed to had been fired for being pregnant out of
wedlock. According to the school’s rules, this is an act against morality. I
believe that pregnant unmarried teachers should not be fired because it is
against that law. There is hypocrisy because there are religious institutions
that cover up priests molesting a child which is far worse than being
pregnant when unmarried. This incident happened when a Filipino priest was
arrested for raping a 4-year old child recently. It is also a discrimination
against women. The policy should also focus not only on the teachers, but on
the religious figures as well. If the teacher did not get raped but disobeyed
the policy, then the catholic school has the right to fire her.

A good excuse why an unmarried pregnant teacher should not be fired

is only when she is a victim of sexual abuse. Rape is a type of sexual assault
initiated by one or more persons against another person without that
person's consent. Recently in November 28, 2018, a 28-year old teacher got
raped by her students. She has a good reason why she should not get fired.
The rule should be applied to students who committed rape to teachers. It is
not only the teachers but also the students who should follow policy
implemented by the Catholic school because there would be injustice. the
Rape is not only against the bible but also against the law. This act should be
punishable through a life sentence. Such sentences should be applicable to
the priests who raped children not only through excommunication. These are
reasons why rape is a good excuse why pregnant unmarried teachers should
not be fired especially when she is a victim of rape. Aside from being a victim
of rape, the law does not state that unmarried teachers should get fired for
being pregnant.

In the Philippines, another case happened when a teacher named Lue

was fired by St. Scholastica College Westgrove last February 2015. It was an
unjust dismissal since she was already married by the time it happened, but
she was pregnant before that. She sued her former employer for that. It was
believed that bearing a child out of wedlock is not a just cause to terminate
an employee even if the employer is a religious institution. According to the
SC division, when that morality necessarily pertains to public and secular
morality and not religious morality. According to the Supreme Court, for a
conduct to be proclaimed immoral, it must be detrimental to those
conditions which depend on the existence and progress of human society
and not because the conduct is proscribed by the beliefs of one religion or
the other," the decision read. A workers' protection from termination without
just cause and due process is a right implemented by the Constitution.
Although the church and government are separate, there is still the law that
has to be respected.

According to TUCP, Sarmiento claims such a measure violates the

academic freedom as the new law supposedly impinges on the right of
schools to hire and fire teachers. He insists that the hiring and firing of
teachers in Catholic schools have relation to religious freedom, for the
Catholic faith considers it immoral to have children out of wedlock, then
Catholic schools every right release unmarried female teachers who get
pregnant. This led to confusions regarding the Magna Carta for women
(Republic Act No. 9710). It seeks to eliminate discrimination against women
by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling and promoting the rights of Filipino
women, especially those in marginalized sector. It was deemed by some
people to be unconstitutional. This whole business of Catholic schools
punishing female teachers and students for getting pregnant out of wedlock
is not only grossly unfair but also smacks of hypocrisy. It presents a flaw in
terms of social responsibility by penalizing women simply for being women,
and having been assigned the social responsibility of bearing life. Catholic
schools do not punish with expulsion or dismiss male teachers who get their
girlfriends pregnant when they are responsible for pregnancy. Punishing
unmarried females for being pregnant runs counter to the Catholic doctrine
of punishing the sin and not the sinner.
 Teacher’s rights, women’s rights, make society unite and right!
Therefore, to conclude this project, Sexual Racism is not to be treated as a
way of discriminating freely the appearance of women who work hard for
their life and their children’s lives. To appreciate God’s wonderful creation
between opposite sexes. To unify and improve society’s mistakes committed
by people who are misguided by their unknowingly unnecessary desires, but
most importantly, to love one another and treat each other as special gifts of
God’s love and joy.
References

Paragraph 1 -2

https://www.good.is/articles/teacher-fired-catholic-school-pregnant

https://www.gotquestions.org/sex-before-marriage.html

https://www.ucanews.com/news/filipino-priest-charged-with-raping-girl-aged-
4/84618

ps://abcnews.go.com/US/catholic-school-teacher-claims-fired-pregnant-
unmarried/story?id=59623619

Paragraph 3

https://abcnews.go.com/US/catholic-school-teacher-claims-fired-pregnant-
unmarried/story?id=59623619

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-11-26-teacher-
kidnapped-gang-raped-by-alleged-ex-pupils/

Paragraph 4

https://www.rappler.com/nation/84925-sc-religious-schools-cannot-fire-
workers-pre-marital-pregnancy

Paragraph 5

http://tucp.org.ph/2009/08/punishing-unmarried-pregnant-women/

https://psa.gov.ph/content/q-magna-carta-women-republic-act-no-9710