Workplaces need to stop punishing women for having children as shameful statistics revealed: Jodie Hill

As an employment solicitor and founder of Thrive Law, I’ve seen firsthand how workplaces continue to fail women at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.

The truth is, despite legal protections, too many employers treat pregnancy like an inconvenience, not a reality of working life. When women become pregnant, they’re suddenly seen as ‘less committed’ or a ‘business risk’.

That attitude leads to discrimination, exclusion, and job loss — and as this research shows, it’s getting worse, not better.

What’s most shocking is how few women take legal action when this happens.

According to the same study, only two per cent of women who face mistreatment or job loss due to pregnancy pursue legal recourse.

Why? Because the burden is entirely on them.

They’re already dealing with pregnancy or new motherhood — physically, emotionally, and financially — and now they’re expected to take on a complex legal fight, often against a well-resourced employer. The odds are stacked against them.

In April 2024, new laws came into force extending redundancy protections for pregnant women and new parents. Now, employers are required to prioritise women at risk of redundancy from the point they disclose their pregnancy, through their maternity leave, and for 18 months after the birth of their child.

This is a welcome step forward — but laws alone will never fix the problem.

Legal protection is meaningless without cultural change.

We need employers to step up. It’s not enough to comply with the law; businesses should be actively working to retain, support, and empower working mothers.

That means offering flexible working arrangements, encouraging open conversations without fear of bias, and having clear, compassionate policies in place. It means listening to women when they tell you how they’ve been treated — and acting on it.

It’s also about making sure women know their rights and feel safe enough to enforce them.

Too many mothers I speak to don’t know what protection they’re entitled to until it’s too late.

The economic and societal cost of losing talented, experienced women because they chose to start a family is enormous.

We talk endlessly about skills shortages, about gender equality in leadership, and about the importance of wellbeing at work — yet we continue to allow motherhood to be a career penalty.

It shouldn’t be down to charities like Pregnant Then Screwed to fight this battle alone.

Employers, policymakers, and leaders in every sector need to start asking themselves: What are we doing to make the workplace truly work for mothers?

Because until we change that, we’ll keep losing thousands of women every year — and we’ll all be worse off for it.

Jodie Hill is managing partner of Thrive Law