20 Jun Why are parents still facing discrimination in the workplace?

So what are your rights at work, and how can you stand up for yourself if you’re facing discrimination?  Erica Hatfield  provides practical ideas to empower pregnant mums (and dads) on what to do if they’re facing discrimination at work.

Part 1. Here’s what you need to know.

It’s 2024, and in theory expectant and new mothers have many more rights at work than they did ten or twenty years ago. But in reality, while legislations exist to protect pregnant mothers from discrimination, many employers still actively discriminate against expectant mums (and dads).

• 89% of respondents encountered discrimination while pregnant at work
• 85% faced discrimination during parental leave
• 92% of respondents experienced discrimination during their return-to-work phase

So what are your rights at work, and how can you stand up for yourself if you’re facing discrimination? In this piece, Erica Hatfield will provide practical ideas to empower pregnant mums (and dads) on what to do if they’re facing discrimination at work.

In Australia, we have state and federal laws to protect people from being unfairly treated in the workplace due to pregnancy, breastfeeding, and carers or family responsibilities^[1].

Yet here we are with the recently released National Review into Work Conditions & Discrimination among Pregnant & Parent Workers in Australia conducted by the University of South Australia, indicating the alarming prevalence of workplace discrimination experienced amongst more than 1,000 respondents during pregnancy (89%), parental leave (85%) or return to work (92%).

Clearly at these rates, this issue transcends individual organisations.

So let’s consider the bigger picture. There are over 6 million families in Australia with at least one working parent^[2], and each year there are literally hundreds of thousands of new babies born: 300,684 in 2022 alone according to the latest ABS stats^[3].

That’s a lot of people each year trying to adjust to life and (for many) work with a new baby.

Yet there can be a tendency to focus on our own individual experiences which can leave parents feeling isolated, perhaps thinking ‘maybe it’s just me’ when encountering unfair treatment at work.

But you are definitely not alone.

I recently launched The Working Parent Project to uncover people’s stories of moving through the life changing period of pregnancy, parental leave, and return to work.

Here’s a small sample of parents’ 6-word stories to highlight some common issues:

• “Redundant. Job hunting with confidence thrown.” & “Pregnant again. “Expendable resource” tossed away.” Frighteningly, 22.4% of parent workers lose their jobs^[4].
• “Part time pay, full time expectations” and “Running. Running. Running. Running. Nailing nothing.” Many working parents (64.8%) are exposed to unmanageable workloads^[5]
• “Sacrificed my ambition for flexibility” and “Part-time cliff, perceived less ambitious.” We need to change the mentality that more senior roles can’t be done part-time.

References available on request

Look out for Part 2 next week: Pregnancy: entitlements, protections & strategies