In contemporary [Western society], most mothers go back to work when their children are still young kids. But what is it like when they get there? Do they face discrimination as mothers? Have they been supplanted by younger workers or the childless? Is it possible that the struggle to get back to work has supplanted the mummy wars as the great feminist battle of the 21st century. Just how easy is it, in a world which tells us modern workplaces are flexible, for women who have opted out of the workforce to opt back in? ‘‘It’s horrific,’’ says Jessica (not her real name), a mother and a former human resources manager for a private wealth firm, who has experienced both sides of the post-maternity coin. ‘‘At an organisational level, there was never a time when a woman was more vulnerable than when she was on maternity leave,’’ she says of her former workplace. ‘‘It was commonplace to change the head count when the woman was on maternity leave and make her redundant, which is really destabilising for the women’s career,’’ she says. ‘‘If the role doesn’t exist any more, she doesn’t come back.’’ Jessica’s anecdotal experience is backed by data – an Australian Human Rights Commission review into discrimination related to ‘‘pregnancy, parental leave and return to work’’ found one in two mothers reported workplace discrimination at some point during pregnancy, parental leave or on their return to work. One in five mothers surveyed said they were ‘‘made redundant/restructured/dismissed or their contract was not renewed’’ at some point during the pregnancy or post-birth period. This is despite legislation which enshrines a pregnant employee’s legal right to return to the same job. But as Jessica says, there are ways around that. ‘‘You phone your legal counsel and say, ‘This is what we want to do, how do we do it?’ I think we really pay lip service to equality in the workplace,’’ she says. ~LA dailylife.au/life-and-love/parenting-and-families/stayathome-mums-face-barriers-returning-to-the-workforce-20140810-3dg5n.html
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 06:47:58 +0000
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