Shocking figures around workplace discrimination of mothers has found 1 in 61 of the women surveyed said their boss had insinuated they should have an abortion.
The data, from Pregnant Then Screwed and Women In Data®, surveying 24,000 women, also found 52% of all mothers have faced discrimination when pregnant, on maternity or when they returned. And 1 in 5 mothers have left work due to a negative or discriminatory experience.
Shockingly, one mother was told by her employer: 'It would be better for your career if you just brought a coat hanger.' One woman said three colleagues told her she had ruined her career and should have had an abortion.
64 per cent of women said their boss or colleagues made hurtful comments about the way they look.
For some women, the consequences of having children can have life-changing consequences on their career, with one in five mothers (19%) making the decision to leave their employer due to a negative experience.
Additionally, 1 in 10 women (10%) revealed they were bullied or harassed when pregnant or returning to work, and 7% of women lost their job - through redundancy, sacking, or feeling forced to leave due to a flexible working request being declined or due to health and safety issues. If scaled up, this could mean as many as 41,752 pregnant women or mothers are sacked or made redundant every year.
Moreover, the majority of mothers - 90% - who were breastfeeding had to use a toilet or were not provided any suitable space to do so. This is despite the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommending employers provide a private, healthy and safe environment for breastfeeding mothers to express and store milk.
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed commented, 'These stats show how far we have to go before mothers are truly accepted as equal members of the workplace. We know that women are treated differently from the point they get pregnant. They are viewed as distracted and less committed to their work, despite there being no change to their performance. This bias plays out in numerous ways, affecting women’s earnings and career potential. There is absolutely no excuse for bosses, who hold the power, to tell their employee to abort a pregnancy. It is sex discrimination and it is inhumane'
The discrimination that women face doesn’t always come from their boss; in fact, 73% of women shared that a colleague made hurtful comments about their pregnancy or maternity leave, and 74% of women said that a colleague insinuated that their performance had dipped due to pregnancy or maternity leave. Some women even experience criticisms based on the way they look when they are pregnant - with 64% saying their boss or a colleague had made inappropriate comments about their looks.
It isn’t just about having children; women are being treated differently for decisions relating to their reproductive health. A third of women who told their employer about having an abortion felt that they experienced discrimination or were unfairly treated as a result. The majority of women (57.6%) did not tell their employer they had an abortion, presumably for fear of being judged negatively.
Joeli Brearley comments, 'The bullying, harassment and aggression pregnant women experience at work has a detrimental impact on their mental health. The fact that the majority of pregnant women have experienced inappropriate and degrading comments from a colleague or their boss about the way they look is shameful. Why as a society do we accept women being a target for such abuse? These hurtful comments chip away at women’s confidence, their ambition and feeling of belonging. Pregnant women are made to feel like an unsightly burden, no wonder a high proportion of women report feeling depressed or anxious when pregnant and 1 in 5 women leave their employer after becoming pregnant.’’
If you or anyone you know has experienced discrimination in the workplace, please call the Pregnant Then Screwed helpline on 0161 2229879.