How many times have you seen or heard of a woman in your workplace overlooked for a position because she may want to have time off to for children, or a woman returning from maternity leave now works less hours? Have you considered there may be more behind the decision than just wanting to spend time looking after the baby?
A recent report published by the TUC highlighted the impact of childcare on women.
3 in 4 mothers with dependent children are in work, yet this group of workers face huge inequalities in the workplace with over half of the mothers surveyed said that they had made a change to the employment. For some this is a choice, but for the majority it is a necessity. Lack of flexible jobs and flexible affordable childcare quoted as the reason.
It is unlawful for your employers to discriminate against you for reasons connected to pregnancy (including pregnancy-related illness) or maternity leave, yet even with the legislation in place 54,000 women a year are forced out of work due to pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
GMB reps up and down the country, in every sector are representing women who have been turned down in their application for flexible working. Women who make a valuable contribution to the workplace, yet need to change the way they work because of children.
I have seen this first hand, on too many occasions, leaving women feeling undervalued and not wanted in the workplace. Along with the stresses of having to lodge appeals leaves many resigning from work altogether. Comments such as ‘why should I appeal, they don’t want me here’ or ‘appealing is too much to handle’ are commonplace. But they shouldn’t be...
Many employers state that they have family friendly policies, but are they really putting them into practice?