To Ask Or Not To Ask? Pregnant Woman Laments Nobody Gives Up MRT Seat For Her

A five months pregnant woman was sad that no one gave up their seat for her in the MRT.

For illustration purposes

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.

There’s a new problem every day on social media and the current topic that has divided netizens today is whether a pregnant woman should ask for a seat on public transport.

It all started when a woman who is five months pregnant lamented on Threads that no one gave up their seat for her in the MRT.

She explained she’s not feeling entitled, but she was exhausted from work and wasn’t confident she could stand any longer but had to push through. She felt like crying while thinking about her predicament on the train.

As a general rule of thumb, in a perfect society, everyone knows they should offer their highly prized seat to pregnant women, the elderly, and the sickly.

However, in real life, this can be quite tricky and it takes a lot of guesswork and assumption. This is because not everyone who looks pregnant is actually pregnant. They could just be more heavy set or chubby. The conversation that ensues is just embarassing for both parties.

So, netizens believe the woman should have asked for a seat to make things less awkward for everyone and those who feel like it would kindly oblige. It’s another story altogether if it turned out otherwise.

Sometimes other passengers might not even realize there’s a pregnant woman in the train with them due to the crowded space or they were engrossed with their phones.

They believe she needs to better communicate her needs to help others help her as well. Additionally, some said she’s not wrong to ask if others would give up their seat for her because she’s well within her rights.

Meanwhile, another user shared their experience when they assumed a woman was pregnant and got up to offer her seat. It turned out that the woman was not pregnant and it was an embrassing encounter for both sides.

So, what can we all learn from this to live in a better society? To help everyone avoid awkward assumptions and conversations, it seems better for pregnant women to speak up and communicate their needs first instead of suffering in silence. Communication is key.