The baby bump

The new chief of the equality watchdog says women in the workplace are being undermined by greater rights to maternity leave. Are such claims justified?

THE ISSUE

Maternity leave ‘a problem’ for women

Nicola Brewer, left, new chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said in a speech last week that more generous maternity rights for women may have backfired by undermining their career prospects. Extending maternity leave and the right to flexible working may have “entrenched the stereotype” that women are always the carers. Brewer said that while we live in the 21st century, “we have a workplace often stuck somewhere in the 1950s” and women are often described by employers as being on the “baby track”. Statutory entitlement to paid maternity leave, which stood at 14 weeks in 1994, is now nine months and will be increased to 12 months at the end of this year. Flexible working rights for parents will also be extended.

THE REALITY

Employers find a way around legal rights

A record 13.6m women are in work, but half are part-timers and there is still a gender pay gap of about 12%. By law, companies cannot discriminate against women with children. However, Sir Alan Sugar, left, claimed earlier this year that many firms routinely throw away the job applications of women of childbearing age and should be allowed to ask women whether they intend having children or not. A third of employers say they cannot guarantee that women will be offered a return to the same job level at which they left to have children. Research by the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equal rights, suggests that 30,000 women a year are losing their jobs because they are pregnant.

THE ROLE OF FATHERS

Is paternity leave the answer to the problem?

Brewer believes the answer to the problem of discrimination against women in the workforce is to provide fathers with more attractive paternity leave, of up to 12 weeks, with at least part of it on 90% of normal salary, like women. At present men are entitled to two weeks’ paternity leave, paid at a statutory rate of £117 a week, although some employers offer more generous terms. Only one in five new fathers takes it up. Fathers’ groups argue that while men want to take more of a role in bringing up their children, they are hamstrung by economic factors as they are usually the primary breadwinner. Even if some parental leave could be transferred from the mother to the father, as has been proposed, most families would find it too challenging financially.

CAN IT CHANGE?

Employer ask for pause in moves to ‘flexibility’

The Federation of Small Businesses said it was “ingenious” of Brewer to use the plight of women to argue for more rights for men, but added: “We’d like a pause on this political love affair with improving flexibility in the workforce.” There are questions, too, about how quickly such policies can affect social mores. In Sweden, which has long topped the global league for progressive policies, both parents get 60 days’ leave and can split another 320 days, but women still take the lion’s share. The issue will continue to evoke strong responses as the newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, left, discovered when she announced that she was pregnant just after taking a £1m a year job. Critics accused her of betraying her new employers.

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