There is a chance that Merel Ek will no longer be welcome in Today Inside after her maternity leave. “You can look for a new job, right?”, colleague Hélène Hendriks asks her.
Merel Ek had a nice surprise in store for the viewers yesterday The Orange Winter: she revealed at the end of the broadcast that she is pregnant with her first child, a boy. She is due at the end of May or early June and will not be seen in SBS 6 programs for a while, including Today Inside. Will she still be welcome there later this year?
Six months away
It is no secret that Johan Derksen understands pregnancy discrimination, because he ended up discussing it with Merel almost a year ago – when she was not yet pregnant.
Risen, place is gone, the football expert then explained. “A woman like that is away for six months, then others come along and do well. Then it is difficult to say to those people who are doing well when she comes back: ‘Now you have to leave again, because she is coming.’”
Merel is at risk
Merel seriously expressed her concerns after that broadcast. She said: “So now I have to worry in this world that if I get pregnant later, I will be replaced and you are not sure that you can come back. That already makes you anxious, that you think: when will I get pregnant, is this a good time in my career?”
Johan then said that she should indeed be concerned: “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.”
New job
Johan’s comments were also mentioned last night in De Oranjewinter, where Merel made her revelation. “You can look for a new job, right?” says Hélène Hendriks jokingly.
Merel then: “Yes, after the summer, because finding a good replacement for me is not that difficult, so I will indeed no longer be welcome after this.”
Hélène: “I am of course referring to that whole discussion with Johan about pregnancy discrimination.”
Almost half way
How long has Merel been pregnant? “Almost half way. Almost twenty weeks.”
Rutger Castricum: “You were able to keep that hidden for a long time.”
Merel: “Yes, I am not very fat, but now I am. My pants honestly no longer fit, but the maternity pants I bought keep falling off all the time.”
Hélène: “But let me see. Stand up.”
Merel: “No, my fly is open!”