Firms In ‘Dark Ages’ Over Women Workers

Sadly, our research tells us that it’s common for employers to ignore The Equality Act (2010) when it comes to hiring new employees - particularly female candidates.

The BBC talks about Ms Rees’ experience of dealing with employers that she believes are still in the ‘dark ages’ when it comes to equality in recruitment.

Whilst working for a large charity, Ms Rees fell pregnant and was soon on maternity leave. As she was coming to the end of her maternity leave she was eager to get back to work. However, she struggled to contact her employers and soon she found herself redundant.

Ms Rees says that her experience is not uncommon, and there are plenty of statistics to back her argument.

The Statistics

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) conducted a survey on 1,106 employers in small, medium, and large businesses. They concluded that:

• 36% think it’s reasonable to ask a woman about her plans to have children
• 59% believe that a woman should have to disclose whether she is pregnant during the recruitment process
• 46% think it’s reasonable to ask women if they have young children during the recruitment process
• 44% believe that women should work for an organisation for at least a year before deciding to have children
• About one third believe that women who become pregnant and new mothers in work are "generally less interested in career progression"
• 41% believe that pregnancy in the workplace puts "an unnecessary cost burden" on the workplace
• 51% of employers think there can be resentment towards women who are pregnant or on maternity leave

Our eLearning Courses

Here at iHasco, we offer a New and Expectant Mothers at Work online training course to teach new and expectant mothers about workplace risks and how to minimise them, what they should expect from their organisation, and it highlights their rights regarding the Equality Act and Employment Law.

Another course of ours that you may find suitable is our Equality and Diversity Training! It is designed to help you comply with the Equality Act 2010 by giving you an understanding of unacceptable behaviour, the protected characteristics, and the many benefits that equality and diversity bring to the workplace.

Once our eLearning course has been completed a certificate of completion is provided. Have any doubts? No worries - you can try these courses for free!