The experience of being in employment while pregnant or returning to work after having a child is not well
researched in Ireland or indeed internationally. This report forms part of a major new research study on women’s
experiences in the workplace during and after pregnancy commissioned by the HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme
and the Equality Authority. In addition to this report, the research involved a literature review examining a range
of literature on pregnancy at work (Russell & Banks, 2011) and a nationwide survey of 2,300 women who gave
birth between July 2007 and June 2009 (Russell, Watson, Banks, forthcoming). The broad objective of the research
was to investigate the influence of pregnancy and childbirth on women’s employment experiences, including an
assessment of pregnancy-related discrimination in Ireland, and how these experiences are shaped by organisational
factors and women’s attitudes and characteristics.
Studies in Ireland and in other countries show that a significant proportion of women experience negative or unfair
treatment in the workplace during pregnancy (Adams, 2005; La Valle et al, 2008; Russell and Banks, 2011; Russell,
Watson, Banks, forthcoming). Such treatment can range from the extreme of dismissal on notification of pregnancy,
unfair selection for redundancy or missing out on a promotion to more subtle forms of unequal treatment, such as
changes in attitude from employers or co-workers. This also includes incidents of discrimination or dismissal after
the birth of the child, where women are dismissed on return to work, sidelined or demoted in their job, or refused a
change in their working hours by employers.
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