Pregnancy Discrimination at Work

A Qualitative Study

The findings of this study into pregnancy-related discrimination illustrate the breadth of issues that come up during working women's pregnancies and the common threads of their experience, in spite of different backgrounds.

The findings suggested that:

• the discrimination women faced was often caused by problems with an individual manager or colleague, rather than the organisation or society
• both employers and employees are poorly informed about pregnancy rights
• employers are not all carrying out necessary risk assessments during employee pregnancies
• few pregnant women facing difficulties at work take proceedings against employers
• women experiencing pregnancy-related discrimination are less likely to return to work for their former employer.