When Connie told her boss about her pregnancy at eight weeks, she replied: ‘it would be easier for your future career if you just brought a coat hanger’.
What’s more, three colleagues then agreed, telling Connie that she had ruined her career and should terminate the pregnancy.
And Connie’s not the only one to endure this kind of treatment at work.
The data, which focuses on a random sample of 3,540 out of 24,193 respondents to a survey, also found that one in every 61 pregnant women said that their boss suggested they get an abortion.
And that’s far from the only worrying statistic.
The survey, conducted with the help of Women In Data, also found that one in five mothers (19%) chose to leave their employer after a negative experience in the workplace, one in 10 women (10%) said they were bullied or harassed when pregnant or returning to work.
Meanwhile, 7% of mothers lost their job via sacking, redundancy, or feeling forced to quit after a flexible working request was declined or over health and safety issues.
These numbers could indicate, when scaled up proportionately, that more than 41,700 pregnant women or mothers are sacked or made redundant every year.
But bosses aren’t the only culprits, with 73% of women saying that a colleague made hurtful comments about their pregnancy or maternity leave, and 74% revealing that a colleague hinted that the quality of their work had slipped because of their pregnancy or maternity leave.
Even their looks get critiqued, with 64% saying their boss or colleague had made inappropriate comments about their appearance when they were pregnant.
On top of that, a whopping 90% who were breastfeeding had to use a bathroom or were not provided any suitable space to express milk, despite the fact that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends employers provide a private, healthy, clean and safe environment for breastfeeding mothers to express and store milk.
And no, as the NHS says, the toilets do not count.
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, said: ‘These stats show how far we have to go before mothers are truly accepted as equal members of the workplace. We know that women are treated differently from the point they get pregnant.
‘They are viewed as distracted and less committed to their work, despite there being no change to their performance. This bias plays out in numerous ways, affecting women’s earnings and career potential.
‘There is absolutely no excuse for bosses, who hold the power, to tell their employees to abort a pregnancy. It is sex discrimination and it is inhumane’
And it’s not just becoming a mother that has women facing workplace discrimination – ironically enough, it’s our right to choose too.
Nearly 60% of respondents didn’t tell their employer they had an abortion, and it’s not hard to think why when a third of women (31.5%) who did inform their employer about having an abortion feeling like they experienced discrimination or were unfairly treated as a result.
Joeli said: ‘The bullying, harassment, and aggression pregnant women experience at work has a detrimental impact on their mental health.
‘The fact that the majority of pregnant women have experienced inappropriate and degrading comments from a colleague or their boss about the way they look is shameful. Why as a society do we accept women being a target for such abuse? These hurtful comments chip away at women’s confidence, ambition, and feeling of belonging.
‘Pregnant women are made to feel like an unsightly burden, no wonder a high proportion of women report feeling depressed or anxious when pregnant and one in five women leave their employer after becoming pregnant.’
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