MUM, YOU’RE FIRED: 74,000 women a year lose their jobs for getting pregnant or for taking maternity leave in the UK today – a 37% increase from 54,000 in 2016
Pregnant Then Screwed has powered up a live “career shredder” which will shred the CV’s of mums in real-time to emphasise the brutal discrimination women experience for daring to procreate
DATE: 27th February 2025; New research from Pregnant Then Screwed, in partnership with Women In Data®, has revealed a sharp increase in the number of women who are potentially pushed out of their job when pregnant, during or when returning from maternity leave. Up to 74,000 women every year now lose their job for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave – an increase of 37% from 54,000 in 2016.
Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 35,800 parents, then Women In Data® extracted a nationally representative sample of 5,870 parents to create its State of the Nation report. The report found that 12.3% of women are sacked, constructively dismissed or made redundant whilst pregnant, on maternity leave or within a year of returning from maternity leave. If scaled up to the general population, this could mean as many as 74,000 women a year are forced to leave their job.
On top of this, half (49.5%) of pregnant women, those on maternity leave, and those returning from maternity leave say they had a negative experience at work. Of those who had a negative experience, 1 in 5 (20.6%) left their employer. A third (35.9%) of women say they were sidelined or demoted whilst pregnant, on maternity leave, or when they return from maternity leave. Despite all of this, just 2% of women who experience discrimination raise a tribunal claim.
A new law came into force in April 2024 to extend redundancy protections to pregnant women and those returning from maternity leave.
Today, Pregnant Then Screwed will be live-streaming a giant physical shredder which will be shredding the CVs of mothers aired across a billboard in Westfield through Ocean Outdoor, known for its high footfall and on a website, careershredder.com. Anyone can support the campaign by uploading their own CV via Linkedin to be shredded – and sharing their involvement on social media to join the conversation and campaign highlighting the ever-growing number of mothers who experience discrimination in the UK.
The campaign will also see posters provided by Clear Channel plastered across the UK, landing on the same day as The Apprentice airs with the words “Mum, you’re fired” – sadly, it doesn’t matter if you land the job, if you’re only going to be pushed out when you become a mum.
Joeli Brearley, founder of charity and campaign group, Pregnant Then Screwed, said: ‘’We have long suspected things are getting worse, not better. Our free advice line is ringing off the hook, it has reached a point where we simply cannot cope with demand. To find that 74,000 mothers a year are being pushed out of their job for daring to procreate is not surprising, but it is devastating. That’s a woman being pushed out of her job every 7 minutes in the UK for doing something that is part of the human existence.’’
‘’In 2016, the coalition government commissioned a report to better understand how widespread pregnancy and maternity discrimination is. The report found that things had significantly deteriorated over the previous 10 years. Despite committing to repeat the research every 5 years, this has not happened so we have been forced to take matters into our own hands. What sort of message does this send to women – that the Government cares so little about this issue that they can’t even be bothered to collect the data.’’
To improve your workplace culture, the campaign is asking companies to increase their paternity leave offer, create family friendly workplaces, including advertising jobs as flexible (unless there’s a good business reason not to), and collect maternity retention data to offer further insight into company behaviour.
Taisiya Merkulova, project lead from Women In Data® comments, “Collectively, we need to close the gender gap and remove the challenges Women face to achieve equality of opportunities in the workplace and reduce burden of the unspoken ‘tax’ on mothers from additional unpaid labour as carers and in the home.”
ENDS
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About the research:
Survey design, weighting and analysis powered and executed by Women in Data® team led by Taisiya Merkulova. A final sample of 5,870 respondents was randomly selected from a pool of 35,800 survey respondents. The sample is nationally representative across the UK population along gender, region, social grade and ethnicity. Weighting is based on the latest census and population estimations published by the ONS, NISRA and NRS.
About Pregnant Then Screwed:
Pregnant Then Screwed exists to end the motherhood penalty. We are the voice of working mothers in the UK. We have a strong and deep connection with our beneficiaries. We provide world-class advice and support to mothers to help them improve their confidence and wellbeing, to give them the tools they need to challenge discrimination in the workplace and to support them to find work that works for them. We advocate for change and raise awareness of the specific challenges faced by working mothers. We challenge deeply entrenched stereotypes about the role of mothers in society. We work with employers, politicians, women and men to make change happen. We publish compelling research to educate, inform and lead the debate.
About Women in Data®:
Women in Data® is a membership organisation whose mission is to achieve gender parity in the Data, AI & Tech industries. Our objective is to create interventions to attract more female and gender diverse data professionals to the industry and then ensure they are retained to maximise their individual career potential.
Women in Data® together with our partners and the strength of our 80,000 plus community has a measurable, positive impact on pressing industry issues such as sector entry, career advancement, certification, role modelling, pay and inclusion.
Women in Data® has become famous for its landmark annual events, which have grown in size and prestige year-on-year, as well as its year–round partner and member support, and its Twenty in Data and Technology annual spotlight on female trail-blazers and rising stars.
www.womenindata.co.uk
Research findings in full:
12.3% of women are sacked, constructively dismissed or made redundant whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave. If scaled up to the general population, this could mean as many as 74,000 women a year.
Following the same methodology as used by the EHRC in 2016, the survey data was weighted and then compared to ONS data on the number of live births in 2022.
5.4% of women are sacked or constructively dismissed whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
7.8% of women are made redundant within 1 year whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
9.2% of women are demoted whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
34.5% of women say they were sidelined whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
35.9% of women say they were sidelined or demoted whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
12.4% of women say they were bullied or harassed at work whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they return from mat leave
49.5% of women say they had a negative experience at work whilst pregnant, on mat leave or when they returned from mat leave.
(Negative experience is defined by those who selected yes to any of the following – Sacked, constructively dismissed, made redundant, demoted, sidelined, bullied, harassed, breastfeeding discrimination, flexible working request was declined and they had to leave their job, had to leave their job due to a health and safety concern)
Of those who did have a negative experience, 20.6% left their employer.
The Government committed to repeat the research conducted by the EHRC in 2016 in their response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-committees/women-and-equalities/government-response/pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination.pdf
