University of Derby: Mother suspended from lectures over baby row

[Nearly Sane]

Eh?


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-63829213

[Harrowby Hall]

Is this possibly an infringement of the Equality Act?

[Nearly Sane]

Yes but that's not really useful to the individual

[jeremyp]

Is this possibly an infringement of the Equality Act?

In what way? She was not excluded for being a woman but for taking a baby into lectures.

[Harrowby Hall]

In what way? She was not excluded for being a woman but for taking a baby into lectures.

I believe (and am prepared to be told that I am mistaken) that "maternity" is a condition of inequality recognised by the Act.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

I am not seeing the problem from excluding a baby from teaching sessions to be considerate of other students in the lecture.

The baby does not have to be crying, he just needs to be awake to be a distraction e.g. if he is gurgling or making noises or intermittently fussing or the mother could be speaking to the baby to interact with him if he is awake - unlikely a mother can prevent herself from interacting with a baby who is awake and it's not fair on the baby if she does ignore him. He requires eye contact, stimulation and interaction if he is awake in order to thrive. 

These days the university lectures and notes are available online so any student who is going to miss a lecture can easily catch-up.

[jeremyp]

I believe (and am prepared to be told that I am mistaken) that "maternity" is a condition of inequality recognised by the Act.

I looked it up and you are right, maternity is a protected characteristic. I'm not clear, however, that the legislation would prevent the banning of babies in lectures.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

I expressed milk for when I ran away from maternity leave back to my job in an investment bank (when my daughter was 5 months and still breastfeeding) as work was a lot easier than looking after a young baby.

If the student is really keen to attend lectures in person rather than online, she can express the milk and leave it in the fridge for parents or caregiver to warm up. That would be a far better arrangement for the baby than him hanging around a lecture hall with a distracted, stressed student-parent.

[Harrowby Hall]

I looked it up and you are right, maternity is a protected characteristic. I'm not clear, however, that the legislation would prevent the banning of babies in lectures.

I'm not necessarily saying that she should take her baby into lectures. I get the impression, from the newspaper report, that the university had taken a hard line (this could, of course, be journalistic licence). If the university had not tried to find some solution which would have been less absolute (like Gabriella's suggestion) then it may be possible that its action could be challenged under the Act.