/ / HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme and Equality Authority publish pregnancy at work research

HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme and Equality Authority publish pregnancy at work research

The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme (CPP) and the Equality Authority today released ‘Pregnancy at Work: A National Survey’ – a major new research report which presents the findings of Ireland’s first nationally representative survey of women’s experiences at work during and after pregnancy. The majority of mothers with young children and women of childbearing age are now in the workforce and their experience at work during and after pregnancy have become increasingly relevant over time.

The survey sample of 2,300 women was randomly selected from the Department of Social Protection’s universal child benefit register and comprised of women whose youngest child was born between July 2007 and June 2009. The research report was prepared by Dr Helen Russell, Dr Dorothy Watson and Dr Joanne Banks of the ESRI.

Areas surveyed include treatment by employers during pregnancy, health and safety, crisis pregnancy, maternity leave, parental leave and return to work. For the very first time, this survey provides compelling evidence that work-related reasons are a contributory factor in crisis pregnancy experience.

The survey’s findings show that:

  • 33% of women stated that their pregnancy was a crisis pregnancy
  • The economic down-turn is having a clear impact on reports of crisis pregnancy as almost 50% of the women who experienced a crisis pregnancy stated that financial concerns contributed to the crisis
  • 27% of working women who experienced a crisis pregnancy stated that workplace factors such as ‘work plans’ or ‘work commitments’ or ‘concern about the reaction from employers or co-workers’ to the pregnancy had contributed to the crisis
  • There is a strong link between experiences of unfair treatment at work and crisis pregnancy: Women who experienced more than one form of unfair treatment were at an increased risk of experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

On the positive side, the availability of flexible working practices was associated with a reduced likelihood of crisis pregnancy for women in employment. Mothers who experienced lower levels of work-family conflict during pregnancy were less likely to report a crisis pregnancy.

The survey also provides the first nationally representative data on the extent to which women experience unfair treatment at work due to pregnancy in Ireland. Regarding women in employment:

  • Up to 30% reported experiencing unfair treatment even though 71%, reported that they had a supportive employer in the context of their pregnancy
  • 5% of women employed during pregnancy reported that they were dismissed, made redundant or treated so badly that they had to leave their job.
  • Unfair treatment was more commonly reported by younger women, women expecting their second child, women working in the retail and wholesale sector, women working in organisations with few flexible work arrangements and in workplaces that didn’t have a formal equality policy. Unfair treatment was less common among women working for small organizations and in workplaces that had a formal equality policy
  • The most common form of unfair treatment was being assigned unsuitable work or workloads (12%).
  • Unfavourable treatment was also experienced by some women returning to work after childbirth. Almost one quarter felt that their opportunities for promotion had decreased on returning to work while over one fifth of women felt that their opportunities for training had decreased.

The survey also investigates uptake of maternity and parental leave and finds evidence that strongly points to inequalities among women: Women with higher earnings potential, better levels of education and an employed partner are more likely to avail of the extended period of unpaid maternity leave and to receive top-up payments from the employer while on maternity leave. On the other hand among women with lower earnings potential, not only are they less likely to receive employer-provided top-up payments, but financial pressures result in a lower take-up of unpaid leave and an earlier return to work.

Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, Acting Director of the HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme said “In order to successfully fulfill government policy to reduce crisis pregnancy we must also recognise that when unplanned pregnancies happen, broader areas like employment policy, workplace culture and financial stability impact on how women react to the news of being pregnant and how they cope. Effective intersectoral approaches across diverse policy domains from employment, to welfare, to health are required to successfully reduce crisis pregnancy and to support the needs of pregnant employees, new parents and employers.”

Welcoming the publication of the studies, Renee Dempsey, CEO of the Equality Authority said “All of these findings demonstrate the need to ensure that women are aware of their rights regarding pregnancy at work, and that they are supported in vindicating those rights. It is also essential that employers, the majority of whom are supportive, accept and embrace their responsibilities in this regard. The report also highlights the need to develop public policy to promote the better reconciliation of work and family life and it provides essential evidence to inform such policy development.”

One of the report’s authors, Dr Helen Russell said “The majority of Irish women are now employed during pregnancy therefore pregnancy at work is an increasingly pertinent issue for women, employers and the state. Although employment during pregnancy was a positive experience for most women, the study provides evidence that a significant minority face a range of unfavourable treatment. This includes inappropriate workloads, loss of salary or bonuses, denial of promotion through to dismissal. Such experiences can have significant financial, emotional and health costs for the women involved.”

Another of the report’s authors, Dr Dorothy Watson added “The study also highlights the way in which inequalities among women can be exacerbated around the time of childbirth. Women with higher educational and occupational positions, and who had the support of a working partner, clearly had more choices around taking unpaid as well as paid maternity leave. These same women were more likely to receive a top-up payment from the employer during maternity leave. On the other hand, women with lower levels of education and those in insecure employment were more likely to experience pressures to return to work sooner or to opt out of the labour market altogether after the birth of their child.”

The full report – Pregnancy at Work: A National Survey – is available from the HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme, Equality Authority’s and ESRI’s websites at www.crisispregnancy.ie, www.equality.ie, www.esri.ie

 

ENDS
For more information please contact:
HSE national press office
01 6352840
press@hse.ie

Notes to Editors:

1. A literature review bringing together evidence from a range of national and international sources and a report profiling 54 pregnancy related discrimination cases brought to the Equality Tribunal and Labour Court over a ten year period, 1999 – 2008 were also released and can be downloaded from the above websites.

2. The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme (formerly the Crisis Pregnancy Agency) is tasked with developing and implementing a national strategy to achieve the following core objectives:
i. To reduce the number of crisis pregnancies by the provision of information, advice and contraceptive services.
ii. To reduce the number of women with crisis pregnancies who opt for abortion by offering services and supports which make other options more attractive.
iii. To provide counselling services, medical services and such other health services for the purpose of providing support, after crisis pregnancy as may be deemed appropriate by the Crisis Pregnancy Programme.

3. The Equality Authority is a State Agency which is mandated to promote equality and eliminate discrimination in the workplace and in the provision of goods and services, accommodation and education.

 

About the Study and Executive Summary

The aim of this study is to fill the gap in knowledge around women’s experiences at work in Ireland during pregnancy and after childbirth using data from the first nationally representative survey of mothers. The survey was conducted in the autumn of 2009 and involved mothers who had given birth between July 2007 and June 2009.

The six main objectives of the study are:

  • To investigate women’s experiences of pregnancy at work with a view to assessing levels of pregnancy-related discrimination in Ireland.
  • To shed light on the job and organisational factors that influence the likelihood of unfair treatment of women during pregnancy, in order to identify the organisational practices that minimise unfair treatment and to assist in the development and targeting of supports and policy interventions.
  • To examine the impact of experiences at work during pregnancy on crisis pregnancy (experiencing the pregnancy as emotionally traumatic or a personal crisis).
  • To assess the take-up of maternity and parental leave among women who had given birth in the survey’s two-year reference period, to identify problems in relation to taking such leave and to determine the extent of employer top-ups to these leave arrangements.
  • To examine women’s transitions back into employment after childbirth and to investigate the role of preferences, constraints and opportunities in both the decision to return to work and the timing of that return.
  • To compare women’s employment conditions before and after childbirth.

Treatment by Employer During Pregnancy

Two-thirds of the women who were the focus of this study had been in employment during pregnancy. The majority of these women felt that their employer was supportive (71 per cent) and most were satisfied with their treatment at work during pregnancy (63 per cent). Nevertheless, a significant minority of women in employment during pregnancy experienced problems:

  • Up to 30 per cent of women reported unfair treatment during pregnancy.
  • At its most extreme unfair treatment involved dismissal, this was reported by 5 per cent of women employed during pregnancy. Other forms of unfavourable treatment included loss of salary, bonus, or denial of promotion (10 per cent); being given unsuitable work or workloads (12 per cent ), receiving unpleasant comments from managers/co-workers (8 per cent); being discouraged from attending antenatal appointments during work time (8 per cent) and a range of other problems.
  • Unfair treatment was more common among women working in the retail and wholesale sector, in organisations with few flexible work arrangements and without a formal equality policy. Unfavourable treatment was less common in small organisations (1 to 9 employees).
  • Younger women and women expecting their second child were more likely to have experienced unfair treatment.
  • Three-quarters of women who experienced unfair treatment during pregnancy took no action, and reporting the problem to manager/supervisor was the most common action taken (14 per cent).

Health and Safety

Most women who were in employment during pregnancy reported that their health was not negatively affected by their job during pregnancy (87 per cent). Nevertheless, a significant minority of women in employment during pregnancy experienced problems:

  • 13 per cent of women stated that their physical or mental health had been adversely affected by employment during pregnancy (either ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’).
  • 8 per cent of women experienced a crisis pregnancy where work issues were a contributing factor.
  • 12 per cent of women reported problems around unsuitable work or workloads.

Crisis Pregnancy

The main findings regarding crisis pregnancy were:

  • 33 per cent of women stated that their pregnancy was emotionally traumatic or represented a personal crisis for them at some stage during the pregnancy.
  • The rates of crisis pregnancy were slightly lower among women who had been employed at some stage during their pregnancy (29 per cent) than among those who were not employed during their pregnancy (39 per cent). However, this is mainly due to differences between employed and non-employed women in age and family circumstances. Nevertheless, because of the high rates of employment among women of childbearing age, 60 per cent of women reporting crisis pregnancy were in employment.
  • 60 per cent of mothers aged under twenty-five years and 58 per cent of lone mothers experienced their pregnancy as a personal crisis.
  • A high risk of crisis pregnancy was also found among mothers who were limited in their daily activities at the time of the survey (61 per cent), although we cannot be sure this limitation was present during the pregnancy itself.
  • There was a strong association between unfair treatment at work during pregnancy and crisis pregnancy: 40 per cent of mothers experiencing one form of unfair treatment and 51 per cent of those experiencing 2 or more forms of unfair treatment reported that their pregnancy had been emotionally traumatic or a personal crisis (compared with 26 per cent of mothers who did not experience unfair treatment).

Maternity Leave

The main findings regarding maternity leave for those women who were in employment during pregnancy were:

  • 92 per cent of women took paid maternity leave. Women who were self-employed or who worked in temporary/casual jobs or part-time employment during pregnancy were less likely to take paid maternity leave.
  • 41 per cent of women took unpaid maternity leave, mostly taking it in addition to paid leave. Taking combined paid and unpaid leave was related to the mother’s ability to afford a period of unpaid leave.
  • 48 per cent of women received a top-up payment from their employer in addition to state maternity benefit. Receipt of such payments was higher among women who were already more financially secure.
  • 32 per cent of women experienced problems around maternity leave. The most commonly experienced difficulties involved the length of the period of leave.

Parental Leave

The main findings regarding parental leave for those women who were in employment during pregnancy were:

  • Only 18 per cent of women who had returned to work had requested to take any parental leave; however, since leave can be taken at any point until the child reaches eight years of age, more women may avail of this at a later stage.
  • 19 per cent of women who had applied for parental leave had their request refused, or it was granted but not in the requested form.
  • Take-up of parental leave is linked to women’s ability to afford it.

Return to Work

The main findings regarding return to work after childbirth for those women who were in employment during pregnancy were:

  • Most women had returned to work by the time of the survey (71 per cent), usually to the same employer, and a further 22 per cent intended to return to work within two years.
  • Most women who returned to work did so either at the end of the statutory paid maternity leave period (35 per cent) or at the end of the period of statutory paid and unpaid maternity leave (31 per cent). About one in eight of the mothers took less than the 26 weeks’ statutory paid leave entitlement.
  • Remaining outside the labour market after childbirth was associated with low earnings potential, larger family size and working in a temporary/casual job or for a small organisation during pregnancy.
  • Early return (before the end of statutory paid maternity leave) was linked to financial constraints and job insecurity.
  • The most substantial change in working conditions on a mother’s return to employment, compared with her job during pregnancy, was a reduction in her working hours: 33 per cent of mothers who had worked full time during pregnancy reduced their working hours after the birth.
  • 21 per cent of women who returned to work felt that their opportunities for training had decreased.
  • 24 per cent of women who returned to work felt that their opportunities for promotion had decreased.