Having carefully avoided the subject that for decades they considered taboomore and more American companies are taking a stand against the right to abortion, sign of the emergence of a new generationwith different expectations than before.
It took no more than a few hours after the leak of a possible annulment of the right to abortion by the Supreme Court for a part of the US economy to react publicly.
“Knowing what is at stake, leaders of the business world must make themselves heard and act to preserve the health and well-being of our employees,” they wrote. levi strauss. “What it means to protect rights related to procreation”.
Just like the famous jeans manufacturer, Manzana He promised to cover the costs incurred by their workers if they must move to another state to undergo a voluntary termination of pregnancy.
Returning to the right to abortion “would endanger the rights of millions of women,” the participatory research platform Yelp told AFP, speaking of “an earthquake for our society and our economy” and calling on companies to “take The initiative”.
Since a law limiting abortion to a six-week gestation period went into effect in September in Texas, the taboo has cracked and amazon, Uber and even the bank Citi Group They announced that they will assume the costs that said regulation may entail for their employees.
“We live in an unusual period on the political level where this issue has once again become a matter of pressure, which is going to force companies to take a position,” said Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at Wharton University, Pennsylvania.
“Companies that are in states that could reverse (access to abortion) must decide whether or not to cover the associated costs (…) which forces them to position themselves,” explained Neeru Paharia, an academic at the University of Georgetown.
According to The New York Times, Tesla, which has just moved its headquarters from California to Texas, also promised to assume said expenses.
A matter of generation
The new position of a part of the American companies is also connected to the fact that “in this country the people in favor (of the right to abortion) are more numerous than those who oppose it”, recalls the university student.
The announcements of many front-page companies are part of “a general trend” that has been going on for about ten years and that “has really taken on importance in the Trump era,” Neeru Paharia stressed.
Immigration, the rights of the LGBT community, weapons legislation, the “Black Lives Matter” movement, access to the right to vote, among others, are contentious issues that have occurred in a climate of exacerbated polarization and many companies have been pressured to react by a part of their employees.
“It’s a generational issue,” explains Mark Hass, a professor at Arizona State University. “The” millennials “, the” Gen Z “(born since the late 90s) care more and more about the company values of her.”
“The Apple, Amazon or Uber they want to have the best professionals“, he adds, “so their employees serve as a bit of a compass for them.”
“The job market is tense and certain skills are hard to findPaharia added. Employers’ expectations are also rising, according to the expert, in a country where trust in the political system has been eroding for several years.
Maurice Schweitzer, for his part, distinguishes between the star companies of the new economy, whose employees are better qualified than average and often able to work anywhere, while more traditional companies remain rooted in more conservative regions.
The latter often have less mobile and less skilled workers, whose influence over their employer is more limited.
“It’s an essential reason why technology companies, for example, are going to move” on the issue of abortion, he explained, “while others will try to stay away“.
Contrary to some precedents, firms that have taken a stand publicly have escaped global repercussion, calls for boycotts or smear campaigns.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio proposed a bill on Tuesday that would prevent companies from benefiting from tax deductions for assuming the costs associated with abortion, although with little chance of success.
“The people who want to restrict access to abortion are in the minority, but they seem to be winning at the moment,” said Maurice Schweitzer, “so I’m not surprised they’re keeping quiet.”