Pregnant Reporter Took Hidden Camera to See If Anyone Would Offer Her Subway Seat. How Many Do You Think Got Up for Her?

Fed up with the apparent unwillingness of British subway passengers to give up their seats for pregnant women, an Israeli reporter based in London took a hidden camera on her commute to document her experience.

Miri Michaeli Schwartz, a reporter for Israel’s Channel 10 television, at 38 weeks pregnant documented numerous passengers sitting in priority seating reserved for disabled people and for pregnant women, even though she was wearing a “Baby on Board” badge issued by Transport for London, which runs the British capital’s public transportation.

Passengers sat in priority seating section either ignoring or not noticing the 38-week pregnant woman wearing a pregnancy badge issued by the public transportation authority. (Image source: Facebook/Miri Michaeli Schwartz)

In the video she posted on Facebook, numerous passengers were seen sitting in their seats, including notably a woman helping her child with homework, none of whom offered her their seat.

At the end of the video, one man got up for her, leading the reporter to quip that she had finally found a righteous man in Sodom, a reference to Abraham’s appeal to God on behalf of the sinful city in the biblical book of Genesis.

“Now, from the top of 38 weeks of pregnancy, when there’s absolutely no way to ignore my huge bump (with a cute little baby girl inside of it!), I can tell you — London tube commuters just don’t care,” Michaeli Schwartz posted on Facebook:

Commuters see me, they see my bump, sometimes even stare but don’t get up, even if they are getting off of the train at the next station or are seating in the priority seat with a sticker of a pregnant lady as a reminder above their heads.

I already know how people look when they try to act like they haven’t seen me. The newspaper is held up a little higher, the phone comes out, headphones are placed in ears or sometimes...they stare at my bump and just don’t care.

I think the first woman in the video, doing homework with her child on the Jubilee line, missed a chance to teach him a much more valuable lesson — how to respect others and be a little less selfish.

The reporter recalled how when she was growing up in Israel her mother would make her stand and acknowledge when a pregnant woman boarded the bus.

“Where I grew up, ever since I can remember myself my mother would get up herself and make me stand up if a person who needs the seat more got on the bus. It was so clear to me this is how it should work. No badge needed,” she wrote.

“Once in a while there are a few righteous people on the tube, as you can see at the end of the video clip. Unfortunately, they are not the majority,” the reporter wrote. (Image source: Facebook/Miri Michaeli Schwartz)

“Once in a while there are a few righteous people on the tube, as you can see at the end of the video clip. Unfortunately, they are not the majority,” Schwartz added.

Finally, Miri Michaeli Schwartz found her "righteous" man on the London Underground. (Image source: Facebook/Miri Michaeli Schwartz)

Transport for London notes that the purpose of the “Baby on Board” badge is “to combat any awkwardness that may be felt when asking someone to give up their seat. It also lets passengers in priority seats know when they should give them up.”

This is not the only time Schwartz has encountered discrimination first-hand. The reporter made news internationally last April when a group of bystanders began cursing her and shouting “Jew” while she was doing a live shot in Hebrew on a Paris street.

Downloading... Photographer: the brilliant @mart_sw #babypics #photographer #pregnancyphotoshoot #London #Hampstead #pregnant #9monthspregnant #37weeks

A photo posted by Miri Michaeli (@mirushm) on Jan 29, 2016 at 6:47am PST

(H/T: Times of Israel)