VANCOUVER – A White Rock city councillor is under fire for suggesting pregnant women should wear looser clothing.
Councillor David Chesney made the comments on the Goddard Report podcast. He was asked about the hate mail sent to Global BC’s meteorologist Kristi Gordon.
Gordon, who is pregnant, has spoken publicly about comments she received about what she wears on air. In March, Gordon shared a letter from a group of viewers, saying:
“Nowhere on North America TV have we seen a weather reader so gross as you.”
“We now turn off Global.”
These are some of the outfits Kristi was most criticized for:
In the Goddard interview, uploaded on April 6, Chesney was critical of the way some women dress when pregnant. “Our mothers, and I’m not advocating that they wear tents, but there is maternity wear,” he said in the podcast. “I see women, I run into women in the local grocery store and they can’t get on any more skin tight, it looks like sausage casing. Their belly button is actually pushing through the material and I kind of look at that and I go, ‘I get it, you’re pregnant, alright?'”
He wondered why there is such a desire for pregnant women to “push that out in front of everyone.”
Chesney went on to say he had a few elderly women contacting him through his website – before Gordon went public with her hate mail – asking him if he could say something or do something about what Gordon was wearing on TV and what pregnant women are wearing in general.
“I said, ‘No I really don’t have a desire to because I don’t watch TV, I can’t comment on it’.”
Chesney added he does not find a pregnant woman wearing tight clothes repulsive, but he does not understand why pregnant women want to dress in tighter clothes. “The styling was much, much different in the 50s, 60s, 70s, even the 80s. Women wore a little bit more loose-fitting clothes.”
“It’s just a touchy point, but that’s my opinion and by golly I’m entitled to it,” he said.
Chesney also talked about the one-year maternity leave many corporations give to their female employees. “So women, they want to come to work until that water breaks so that they can have one year off from the time the baby’s born,” he said. “They’re not taking a month off ahead of time, they’re barely able to walk, they can’t sit down, they’re not comfortable, I don’t know, it’s a fine line.”
On Friday, Chesney offered an apology on his website, saying “I apologize to any women that may have been offended by comments that were taken out of context.”
Gordon told Global News she thinks society needs to be easier on women going through pregnancy. In response to Chesney’s comments on maternity leave, Gordon thinks he implies that pregnant women are not as useful during the last month of their pregnancy.
“In an age where so many women have to go back to work full-time and they’re shoving their kids into daycare, or into some kind of care, I think he’s missing the point there,” said Gordon. “We should be encouraging women to be able to take as much time with their children, that’s the best thing for their children.”
In her opinion, Chesney’s comments are rooted in a different generation and it’s not just about pregnant women, but women in general wearing tight clothing.
“I think this is more of a generational thing,” said Gordon. “Younger generations are used to tighter clothing, whereas older generations feel there’s a certain appropriate look that needs to be upheld. That lends itself to pregnant women or not, I think, when it comes to the way older generations view clothing.”
“In my opinion, he’s entitled to his view about that if it makes him feel uncomfortable,” added Gordon.
She received a tweet from someone saying Chesney should pay for appropriate maternity wear for pregnant women:
Gordon said it is amazing to see, even on her second pregnancy, that she cannot rely on her “regular” clothing to get her through the pregnancy. “It’s amazing how much your body changes and you don’t realize. Right now, I am down to one pair of pants, that’s the only pair I can get in to, other than tights.”
Even “baggy” shirts are not baggy enough.
“You think that women would be able to get by on what they have but they almost need an entirely new wardrobe,” said Gordon. “Especially now, if you’re working because you have to look appropriate.”
Gordon added people need to realize women are trying their best and are trying to maximize their time with their children. “I think that is totally fair.”
Earlier this week, White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin announced that Chesney has been censured for publishing comments city lawyers considered to be defamatory. The comments were made on Chesney’s website. He has been removed from committees and the deputy mayor rotation until next January.
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