Pregnant women are 'soft targets' for firms

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST pregnant women and new mothers is on the rise in the workplace due to the recession, the Equality and Rights Alliance has said.

Calls to Free Legal Advice Centres, one of its 130 affiliates, in relation to maternity issues increased from just 1.3 per cent of employment queries in April 2009 to 14.3 per cent last January.

Speaking ahead of International Women’s Day the alliance’s chairwoman Joanna McMinn said employers were using women on maternity leave as “soft targets” for cuts. “Pregnancy-related discrimination is a very blunt, overt form of unfairness and gender discrimination. It is against the law and despite 30 years of legislation against it, we are seeing evidence that this particular form of discrimination is getting worse because of the recession.”

Women were reporting being laid-off during their maternity leave, having their maternity pay cut, isolation when they reveal their pregnancy and bullying when they return to work, being denied previously agreed work sharing or part-time work arrangements and being given notice when they return to work.

Celebrations of International Women’s Day are being held around the country today.

More than 200 Dublin businesswomen will attend a seminar organised by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce to encourage entrepreneurship among women. With women representing nearly 60 per cent of Irish graduates but only 30 per of EU entrepreneurs, the potential of women as business leaders was an underdeveloped source of economic growth, Dublin Chamber of Commerce said. Speakers at the seminar which will be held in the Alexander Hotel, Dublin, tonight include Mary Ann O’Brien founder of chocolate company Lily O’Brien’s, Lucy Gaffney chairwoman of Communicorp Group Ltd, and Nicola Byrne, managing director of directory enquiry service 11890.

Children’s development NGO Plan Ireland will host a photographic exhibition, What It’s Really like to be a Girl, from today at the Trinity College sports centre. The exhibition includes photographs taken by internationally renowned photographers.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland will debate the theme “The Equality Illusion” from 10.30am to 1.30pm at EU House on Dawson Street Dublin. Speakers include Kat Banyard, Sylvia Meehan, Alwiye Xuseyn and Linda Kelly.

A posthumous book from Nuala O'Faolain, A More Complex Truth: Selected Writingswill be launched tonight at City Hall, Dublin. There will be a debate on the legacies of feminism featuring Susan McKay, Ivana Bacik, Caitríona Crowe and Margaret MacCurtain and chaired by Anthea McTeirnan.

Lord Mayor of Cork Dara Murphy and Lady Mayoress Tanya Murphy will host a lunchtime charity concert and photographic exhibition in aid of Women of Concern and the Cork Sexual Violence Centre. The University of Limerick will host a conference entitled, Women and the Recession – Strategies for Survival.