The Women and Equalities Committee has called for better protection for women after a ‘shocking’ increase in workplace pregnancy discrimination over the past decade. The Committee’s report, ‘Pregnancy and maternity discrimination’ finds that while research recently conducted by the BIS and the EHRC shows showed evidence of good employer attitudes towards, and treatment of, new and expectant mothers, there were also some very worrying results.

One of the most shocking findings was that discrimination had increased since research by the Equal Opportunities Commission in 2005, with more women now being made redundant or feeling forced to leave their job than 10 years ago. Another was that more than three quarters of the women surveyed had experienced a negative or potentially discriminatory experience as a result of their pregnancy or maternity. Key findings were:

• half of mothers reported a negative impact on their career, such as being given duties at a lower level, being treated with less respect or feeling that their opinion was less valued as a result of their pregnancy;
• around 20% said that they had experienced harassment or negative comments related to pregnancy or flexible working from their employer and /or colleagues;
• 11% reported being either dismissed, made compulsorily redundant, where others in their workplace were not, or treated so poorly that they felt they had to leave their job; and
• 10% said that their employer had discouraged them from attending antenatal appointments.

The Committee is of the view that the situation is likely to decline further unless it is tackled effectively now. Urgent action and leadership is needed, but the approach that the Government is taking forward lacks urgency and bite. There is a lack of detail about the Government’s objectives, how and when it expects to achieve them, and how the effectiveness of its approach will be assessed. A detailed plan is need outlining the specific actions it will take to tackle this unacceptable level of discrimination. Key Committee recommendations are as follows:

• Employers should be required to undertake an individual risk assessment, and not just a generic job risk assessment, when informed that a woman is pregnant, has given birth or is breastfeeding.
• The right to paid time off for antenatal appointments should be extended to workers and greater parity should be given to maternity-related rights between workers and employees.
• The Government should increase protection from redundancy so that new and expectant mothers can be made redundant only in specified circumstances.
• The Government should review the three-month time limit for bringing a tribunal claim in maternity and pregnancy discrimination cases and should substantially reduce tribunal fees.
• The Government should monitor access to free, good-quality, one-to-one advice on pregnancy and maternity discrimination issues and assess whether additional resources are required. 

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