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Irish Wedding News

27/08/2013

50,000 Women Face Discrimination Over Maternity Leave

It has been claimed that up to 50,000 women are unable to return to their old jobs, or are forced into roles with less responsibility, after they take maternity leave.

According to data analysed by the House of Commons library, as many as 14% of new mothers who return to work said they suffered 'discrimination' by their employers.

Of the 340,000 women who take maternity leave each year, some said they were effectively constructively dismissed, others said they found it difficult to get promoted, while others were overtaken on the pay scale by less qualified, male employees.

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Labour's shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the issue was "a hidden disgrace".

Ms Cooper, 44, who is married to shadow chancellor Ed Balls and became the first government minister to take maternity leave when she had her second child in 2001, said when she had her third child in 2004, "senior civil servants treated [my] maternity leave with hostility, making it hard to keep in touch, and trying to change my job and working arrangements while I was away."

She added: "It was sorted eventually, but it shouldn't have been a battle.

"The last thing you feel up to in the final hot and bothered weeks of a summer pregnancy, or the baby's early sleepless months, is another argument about your job."

Elsewhere, in a survey by legal firm Slater & Gordon, more than a quarter of 1,000 mums said they were unsure about what to expect from their employer when they returned to work.

Almost half or participants said the role they had previously performed had changed since they took maternity leave, with one in 20 accepting a completely different job role. More than a quarter had their request for flexible hours refused.

(JP/MH)

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"It has been claimed that up to 50,000 women are unable to return to their old jobs, or are forced into roles with less responsibility, after they take maternity leave."