Pregnant women are feeling underrepresented at work

Pregnant and parent workers represent a substantial and growing proportion of the Australian workforce. Changes are needed to relieve these groups of the issues they face in the workplace.

A national review was undertaken by Dr Rachel Potter to convey the prevalence of work-related discrimination, disadvantage, and bias concerning pregnant and parent workers.

The workplace issues that this subgroup faces are often neglected by employers. Over 20 per cent of all Australian households have young children and the percentage of dual-earner parent couples with children under the age of 18 has increased from 53 per cent in 1996 to 66 per cent in 2016.

There is a wide range of issues that this group faces within the workplace:

• More than 60 per cent of new mothers returning to work say their opinions are often ignored, feel excluded, and are given unmanageable workloads.
• 25 per cent of women said their workplace did not provide appropriate breastfeeding facilities.
• Almost one in five women returning from maternity leave were refused requests to work flexible hours or from home.
• 30 per cent of pregnant women received no information about their upcoming leave entitlements, which is a legal requirement in workplaces.
• 23 per cent of women said they felt they needed to hide their pregnant belly at work.
• While on leave, 22 per cent had their tasks or jobs altered against their wishes, and 73 per cent would have liked to take more maternity leave to care for their child.
• 38 per cent reported negative or offensive remarks for taking time off work to care for a sick child.
• 13 per cent were treated so badly they had no option but to resign.

These are issues that are not prominent when it comes to workplace discourse. This displays clear evidence that an overhaul of workplace cultural norms when it comes to the subject of parenthood is needed. Potter gave several recommendations of ways these issues can be nullified:

• Closer consultation between employers and employees to ensure the former understands pregnancy-related needs and communicates role changes for new parents returning to work.
• Appropriate space for breastfeeding or expressing milk (locked door, comfortable chair, storage facilities).
• Management and HR should foster an inclusive workplace culture that does not tolerate disrespectful or negative behaviour.
• Create greater gender equality through providing partner parental leave and/or flexible work arrangements.
• Training and career progression should be available to all, regardless of the work arrangements.
• Ergonomic adjustments need to be made in the workplace to minimise the risk of harm.
• There must be greater mandatory regulation of employers to ensure they are meeting their legal requirements.

Awareness about issues that affect a subgroup like this must be spread throughout workplace discourse. It’s a topic that is easily swept under the rug because of the large number of people that fit into the group. Education, understanding and empathy are much needed from employers to ensure that the wellbeing of women and parent workers isn’t negatively impacted.