Agency to investigate workplace attitudes to pregnancy

CONCERN ABOUT continuing discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace is to be investigated by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA). The agency is concerned that the economic downturn will make the situation of many pregnant women in the workplace even more precarious than before.

The CPA is to launch two research projects into the experience of pregnant women in the workplace.

One, which will involve asking women about their own experience, will be carried out next year. The other will be a piece of research looking at attitudes in Ireland and how they compare internationally. The two pieces of research will be put out to tender.

The aims of the project will be to assess the impact of the workplace on pregnant women with a view to estimating levels of pregnancy-related discrimination, to understand the causes of discrimination and to assess the level of awareness among women of their employment rights as they relate to pregnancy. It is hoped that the outcome of the report will influence future policy-making in relation to pregnancy-related discrimination.

The Equality Authority has said that it receives about 300 complaints of pregnancy-related discrimination every year, but its chief executive officer, Niall Crowley, believes the figure is only the "tip of the iceberg" in relation to the number of pregnant women who are the subject of overt or covert discrimination in the workplace despite more than 30 years of legislation in the area.

It has been unfair to dismiss women due to pregnancy since the Unfair Dismissals Act came into force in 1977.

CPA director Caroline Spillane said its study would focus particularly on women in crisis pregnancies and their experiences in the workplace.

Previous CPA reports have shown that attitudes at work and career prospects form a major part of the decision-making process when a crisis pregnancy occurs.

"We know from various pieces of research that attitudes in the workplace can have a major bearing on the outcome of a crisis pregnancy. The critical issues are whether a pregnant woman considers it possible that she will lose the job or, alternatively, whether she feels that she is in stable employment with fairly good career prospects."

She said pregnancy discrimination was often very difficult to prove and many women ended up opting out of the workforce altogether.

Ms Spillane said the need for such a study was more acute, given the economic situation at present which will put pressure on employers to cut payroll costs. Women in part-time position were particularly vulnerable, but she believed that targeting pregnant women was short sighted in the long term.

"It is the one time when you would need really good people in the workplace. If women are pushed out of the workplace after all of that training and development, the economy will suffer overall," she said.