Two weeks after giving birth, Kate discovered she was being made redundant – it was a huge blow to her during what was already an emotionally vulnerable time.
“I had sorted out all my KIT [keeping in touch] days and when I’d be returning etc., and it was so out of the blue,” said the 32-year-old.
Kate had been invited to join a Zoom call whilst still in hospital but didn’t get the message until she was home. When she viewed it back, she said it was “the CEO reading from a script telling me they were liquidising the company in the UK”.
The mum claimed that a month later, the company was advertising for the same role with the same job description.
Sadly her situation isn’t unique. New research from charity Pregnant Then Screwed, in partnership with Women In Data, has revealed a rise in the number of women who are potentially pushed out of their jobs when they’re pregnant, or on or back from maternity leave.
Up to 74,000 women now lose their job for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave each year, according to the new report.
In 2016, it was 54,000 – so an increase of 37%.
How did they arrive at this figure?
Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 35,800 parents and Women In Data extracted a nationally representative sample of 5,870 parents for its State of the Nation report.
The report found that 12.3% of women are sacked, constructively dismissed or made redundant whilst pregnant, on maternity leave or within a year of returning from maternity leave.
If scaled up to the general population, this could mean as many as 74,000 women a year are forced to leave their job.
“”To find that 74,000 mothers a year are being pushed out of their job for daring to procreate is not surprising, but it is devastating.””
– Joeli Brearley
Joeli Brearley, founder of charity and campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “We have long suspected things are getting worse, not better. Our free advice line is ringing off the hook, it has reached a point where we simply cannot cope with demand.
“To find that 74,000 mothers a year are being pushed out of their job for daring to procreate is not surprising, but it is devastating.
“That’s a woman being pushed out of her job every seven minutes in the UK for doing something that is part of the human existence.”
The new report also found that almost half (49.5%) of pregnant women, those on maternity leave, and those returning from maternity leave said they’ve had a negative experience at work.
Of those who had a negative experience, one in five (20.6%) left their employer.
A third (35.9%) of women say they were sidelined or demoted whilst pregnant, on maternity leave, or when they returned from maternity leave.
Yet just 2% of women who experience discrimination raise a tribunal claim.
Under redundancy laws in the UK, pregnant employees, as well as those on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave must be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if there is one.
A new law came into force in April 2024 to extend redundancy protections to 18 months after a child is born.
In a bid to raise awareness of the number of women potentially forced out of work during pregnancy and the first year after birth, Pregnant Then Screwed will be live-streaming a giant physical shredder which will be shredding the CVs of mothers and aired across a billboard in Westfield.
