Managers avoid hiring young women due to pregnancy concerns
13 August 2014
One in three managers are wary of hiring women of childbearing age and a similar number discriminate against women with children applying for senior roles, according to a survey.
Mon, 11 Aug 2014One in three managers are wary of hiring women of childbearing age and a similar number discriminate against women with children applying for senior roles, according to a survey.
The survey of 500 managers, by law firm Slater & Gordon, found one third of managers would rather employ a man in his 20s or 30s than a woman of the same age. In addition, 40% were wary of hiring a women of childbearing age in general. A similar number would be wary of hiring mothers for senior roles.
Kiran Daurka, employment lawyer at Slater & Gordon, said the government needed to do more to help women return to the workplace. She said: “We are calling on the government to address this issue and legislate to put a duty on employers to accommodate women returning to work after maternity leave to level the playing field.”
The research was published the same week as an analysis showed it could take 60 years before women’s pay equalled men’s. The gap between male and female pay has been closing at a rate of just 0.3% per year since 2010, which means the current 19.7% pay gap could take more than 60 years to close, according to the research by the Labour Party.
The coalition initiative to encourage pay reporting to promote equality, launched three years ago, has had limited success. More than 200 firms signed up to Think, Act, Report, but only four – Friends Life and Genesis Housing, Tesco and AstraZeneca – have published their gender pay gap, according to an answer to a parliamentary question from the shadow women and equalities minister, Gloria De Piero.
The survey of 500 managers, by law firm Slater & Gordon, found one third of managers would rather employ a man in his 20s or 30s than a woman of the same age. In addition, 40% were wary of hiring a women of childbearing age in general. A similar number would be wary of hiring mothers for senior roles.
Kiran Daurka, employment lawyer at Slater & Gordon, said the government needed to do more to help women return to the workplace. She said: “We are calling on the government to address this issue and legislate to put a duty on employers to accommodate women returning to work after maternity leave to level the playing field.”
The research was published the same week as an analysis showed it could take 60 years before women’s pay equalled men’s. The gap between male and female pay has been closing at a rate of just 0.3% per year since 2010, which means the current 19.7% pay gap could take more than 60 years to close, according to the research by the Labour Party.
The coalition initiative to encourage pay reporting to promote equality, launched three years ago, has had limited success. More than 200 firms signed up to Think, Act, Report, but only four – Friends Life and Genesis Housing, Tesco and AstraZeneca – have published their gender pay gap, according to an answer to a parliamentary question from the shadow women and equalities minister, Gloria De Piero.
