Johan Derksen (75) states that his political reporter Merel Ek (29) runs the risk of losing her job if she becomes pregnant. “She has to take that into account,” he says in Today Inside.
It was quite a shock for Merel Ek, who is still childless, when her employer Johan Derksen indicated live in the broadcast of Today Inside on Wednesday evening that she supported pregnancy discrimination. He finds it no problem that female WNL presenters were victims of this and that of course makes VI an unsafe working environment.
Typical bullshit
Johan does not find his statements strange at all, he says in the latest one Today Inside. “Wilfred, this is typical bullshit from people who have never led. If someone goes on maternity leave, as a small organization you have a big problem because you have to fill a gap.”
He continues: “If that gap is filled by someone who is better, then you have a problem when the lady comes back with the baby, because then you can’t say to the person who is doing better: ‘Now you’re leaving again.’”
Blackbird out?
Wilfred Genee spoke with his young reporter Merel about Johan’s discriminatory statements. “She also says: ‘What can I do now? When can I get pregnant? In what period?’”
Johan agrees that Merel should be concerned about pregnancy. “Well, she has to take it into account… She can get pregnant whenever she wants and then during the six months that she is at home, someone else is running through the corridors in The Hague. If that someone else asks better questions, that someone else will keep running there.”
Banned
In Johan’s world, pregnant women are like seasonal workers: replaceable. Wilfred thinks that is very outdated. “Isn’t it strange that we aren’t bothered by that? That we don’t have to get out for a while?”
Johan: “Yes, I can’t help it that I have a dick hanging between my legs.”
According to him, it is no problem that someone like Leonie ter Braak was banished to night radio by WNL after her pregnancy. “Yes, that is a sign that she is not functioning.”
Wilfred: “No, that has nothing to do with it at all.”
‘I am anxious’
Merel feels unsafe with an employer like Johan, she says in the section In The Walkways. “So now I have to worry in this world that if I become pregnant, I will be replaced and you are not certain that you can come back.”
She says candidly: “That already makes you anxious, that you think: when will I get pregnant, is this a good time in my career? These kinds of things can put women off even more or make them nervous about becoming pregnant.”