One in five mothers have left work due to a negative or discriminatory experience, new research from Pregnant Then Screwed has revealed.

The charity, which aims to eradicate the motherhood penalty, teamed up with Women In Data to survey more than 24,000 parents, uncovering the workplace discrimination that women face after becoming mothers.

More than half (52%) of all mothers have faced some form of discrimination either while they were pregnant, when they were away on maternity leave or when they returned to work afterwards.

One in 10 women said they were bullied or harassed during their pregnancy or when they returned to work, with 7% losing their job – either through redundancy, sacking or feeling like they had been forced out of the role due to their flexible working requests being turned down or because of health and safety problems. 

Pregnant Then Screwed estimates that this equates to as many as 41,752 pregnant women or mothers being sacked or made redundant every year.

Shockingly, one in 61 pregnant women said that their boss had insinuated that they should terminate their pregnancy.

“These stats show how far we have to go before mothers are truly accepted as equal members of the workplace,” said Joeli Brearley, Pregnant Then Screwed’s CEO and founder. “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. The bias plays out in numerous ways, affecting women’s earnings and career potential.”

It’s not just bosses that are contributing to this discrimination, either. 73% of the survey’s participants revealed that a colleague had made hurtful comments about their pregnancy or maternity leave, while 74% had experienced a colleague hinting that their performance had dropped due to pregnancy or maternity leave.

And some women have even faced remarks about the way they look during pregnancy, with 64% reporting that their boss or colleague had made inappropriate comments about their appearance.

“The fact that the majority of pregnant women have experienced inappropriate or degrading comments from a colleague or their boss about the way they look is shameful,” Brearley added.

“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.”

On 24 July, the Protection From Redundancy (Pregnancy And Family Leave) Act 2023, which aims to shield expectant mothers and new parents from workplace discrimination, is set to come into force.

Under the current law, employees on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave have the right to be offered a suitable alternative if their role is made redundant, but the new Act means that this priority status will apply to pregnant employees too, as well as those who have recently come back from maternity or shared parental leave.

However, the government will need to set out exactly how this will work in practice for employers and workers, and those regulations are unlikely to come into force before next spring.

Images: Getty