Finding out you’re pregnant, having a baby, or adopting a child is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a woman’s life, but for many new mothers, the new-born baby bubble is burst by the news they are being laid off. While colleagues have sent soon-to-be-mums off on maternity leave with flowers, some employers have a redundancy notice waiting for their return.
No one should be penalised for having children, but too often women are. In 2016, a Government-commissioned, Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) survey found that 3 in 4 women experience pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Some 54,000 women a year lose their job simply because they are pregnant. It’s a complete scandal – one the Conservative party have long been aware of.
We are now six years on from the EHRC’s shocking findings and to date, no action has been taken to tackle the industrial scale discrimination women face. The Government have consistently said they will address this issue, with promises to extend redundancy protections to the period of pregnancy and following their return to work. But it’s never come to pass.
Most recently was October 2019, where the Government pledged to deliver these commitments through an Employment Bill. A Bill that as quickly as it was announced, was jettisoned without trace, never to materialise again. And then, the pandemic hit. A crisis that amplified and exacerbated every pre-existing inequality and pushed even more women out of work.
Discrimination was rife pre-pandemic, but mothers were one and a half times more likely than fathers to have lost their job since the lockdown began. Charities like Pregnant Then Screwed do incredible work to support women facing maternity discrimination. The personal stories, in particular from lockdown, of the pain and hardship the women they represent have faced are hard to read.
There is one story so visceral and unjust, it sticks in the mind. Natasha lost her job at the height of the pandemic after telling her employer she was pregnant. She was the only employee to be dismissed. Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, a few weeks later, devastation struck. A miscarriage. In the middle of one of the worst public health outbreaks, Natasha had lost her baby, and she had lost her job. It’s almost impossible to comprehend the heartbreak and injustice she had to endure.
Today, people are facing a cost-of-living crisis of epic proportions. Wages are shrinking and millions of people are falling into poverty. A scarcity of affordable housing, extortionate childcare costs, and soaring inflation means raising a family has never been harder and the decision to start or grow a family is becoming increasingly unaffordable. What new mums need at the very least is job security, yet they continue to be the first to be pushed out the door by employers.
There is no more time to waste. That’s why we are supporting a new Bill that will change the law to extend redundancy protections for expectant mums and new parents. It will include parents taking adoption or shared parental leave and stop them being the first to be laid off on their return to work. It’s a long over-due step towards guaranteeing families more dignity in the workplace.
While it may be too late for women like Natasha, it’s a step towards affording pregnant women protection in their workplace and working mums the security of returning to their job after taking maternity leave. Indeed, there is no more important job in the world than raising a family. It seems only right women should not lose their career for doing so.