Theresa May urged to act over the 'unacceptable level of discrimination' of pregnant women in the workplace
The Women and Equalities Select Committee calls on the Government to introduce protections similiar to those in Germany
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May should take urgent action against the “shocking" treatment and discrimination of pregnant women in the workplace, a parliamentary report has said.
The call by the Women and Equalities Select Committee in Westminster cites statistics from 2015 showing that the number of expectant and new mothers forced to leave their job because of concerns about the safety of their child or pregnancy discrimination has doubled over the past decade to 54,000.
The committee, set up in 2015, is now urging Theresa May’s new administration to publish an “ambitious” and “detailed” plan within the next two years – or risk a further increase in the number of pregnant women being forced out of employment. It adds that UK women should have protections similar to those in Germany.
The group of MPs has also called on the Government, following uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union, to ensure that rights and protections are not eroded in the Brexit negotiation period. Other recommendations the committee has put forward include preventing discriminatory redundancies and extending maternity-related rights for causal, agency and zero-hours workers.
Maria Miller, a former Cabinet minister who chairs the select committee, said that action is needed to stop the treatment of pregnant women and that the Government’s approach has “lacked urgency and bite”.
Ms Miller added that thousands of expectant and new mothers have no choice but to leave work due to concerns about the safety of their child or pregnancy discrimination. “Shockingly this figure has almost doubled in the last decade, now standing at 54,000,” she added.
“There are now record numbers of women in work in the UK. The economy will suffer unless employers modernise their workplace practices to ensure effective support and protection for expectant and new mums.
“The Government’s approach has lacked urgency and bite. It needs to set out a detailed plan outlining the specific actions it will take to tackle this unacceptable level of discrimination. This work must be underpinned by concrete targets and changes to laws and protections to increase compliance by employers to improve women’s lives.”
According to research carried out by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2015 pregnant women and mothers now face more discrimination at work than they did a decade ago. It added that 11 per cent of women reported being either dismissed, made compulsorily redundant when others in their workplace were not, or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job.
Ms Miller, who was the former culture, media and sport Secretary and minister for women and equalities before resigning from David Cameron’s administration, added: “We heard concerning evidence about the experiences of pregnant casual, agency and zero hours workers. While we understand the reason they do not have the same day one rights as employees, employers should not be able to avoid affording regular, long-term workers the same basic rights as employees because they have a different contract type.”
Responding to the report Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow women and equalities minister, said that thousands of pregnant women “are being priced of justice because of the tribunal fees brought in by this Tory Government.
“Women are suffering discrimination in the workplace on an industrial scale and too many are being forced to suffer in silence,” Ms Rayner added. “Women on low pay, shift work and zero hours contracts should have the same access to employment tribunals as those with substantial financial means, but access to justice has become unaffordable for thousands of women on low pay. It is estimated that less than one per cent of women who experience maternity discrimination bring forward a claim.”
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