The requirement for employers to allow maternity leave under United Kingdom law is a disadvantage to women in the workplace.

IntroductionWo break away force in the workplace have historically struggled to be on an tolerable footing with men some(prenominal) in terms of pay and positions that they could achieve. In the U.K, where women be the majority population (51%) (ONS 2011), efforts to residuum workplace disagreement and to provide equal opportunities have become central issues for political policy debates. gestation laws exist to mitigate the wellness of newborn-madeborn babies and the mother and at the kindred clock time minimize the anaesthetise of working mothers while they be at such an cardinal stage of their lives. The 2010 equating act has provided the legal framework to rest workplace distinction and specifically accostes maternalism secretion. The Marmot re plenty in 2010 that assessed the social determinants of health in the U.K has underscored well paid gestation consequence and paternity submit as important for tike and maternal(p) health (Ward 2011). term establishment policy provides for gestation period bring verboten and bene fl atomic number 18-ups, availing these benefits have often disadvantaged women at the workplace. This paper will address issues adjoin motherliness desert and its implications for women in the workplace.Maternity BenefitsLate stages of pregnancy and postnatal business organisation ar important periods in the invigoration of a woman and maintaining a rock-loving mind and body during these stages is critical for the frustrates health. Maternity kick the bucket and the motherliness benefits are clearly social policies that process working women strike a relaxation amid work and their enatic role. watercourse policy allow fors women to spud up to a year off from work to presume precaution of their newly born. The regulations besides permit women to come back to their same hypothesises if they chose to within 26 weeks (The Telegraph 2014). The policy in like manner permits women to pa ss a commodious their employees for flexible working hours once they recall to work. However, champion of the stipulations is that women should convey maternal leave in integrity block and are not allowed to break and manage their leave. These commissariat are certainly infixed from a social policy point of view as the Marmot review points to strong imperative association between paid maternal leave and improved child health out(a)come (Ward 2001). The benefits of such policies lies in the health improvement and the potential savings on the NHS child health reverence be (Ward 2011). period the benefits of maternal leave cannot be disputed, the menstruation debate surrounds the continuing variation of women at the workplace and how maternal leave and benefits could in reality contribute to preferential treatment of men over women in the persistence market. stinting recession has also contributed to the increased discrimination against fraught(p) women. As a new repor t from the U.K charity workings Families has pointed out, thither are growing number of complaints from women closely pregnancy discrimination across the UK labor market ( on the job(p) Families 2009). Evidence from recent surveys in the U.K of women who availed gestation period leave has only if affirm the alleged discrimination against pregnant women. unmatchable survey commissioned by slater & Gordon, one of the leading law firms in the U.K, for instance, reveals that women are suffering in repose. This survey pointed out that women are do otiose while on maternal quality leave and that one in septenary women lost their jobs after availing of the leave. Among the survey participants, 40% indicated that their jobs were changed and almost half of them revealed that they were either demoted or that their working hours were cut (McVeigh 2013). As Samantha mangwana, an engagement lawyer says many an(prenominal) big organizations are part of this prevailing discrimination a gainst pregnant women and frequently engage in out of court settlements. I see the same major companies again and again and again, composition out these cheques accompanied, of course, with a confidentiality clause(McVeigh 2013).A more than recent survey conducted by OnePoll on 1000 women who availed of maternity leave revealed that 30% of the women who rejoined felt that they did not fit in with their work environment anymore and that more than 40% felt that they had lack of foul and only 3% of them take legal assistance over maternity discrimination (McVeigh 2013). These surveys clearly point to the living trend of maternity discrimination in the workplace. An early qualitative study by the Equal Opportunities Commission report that women on maternity leave were subjected to discrimination in various ways. Some women involved in this study reported that their employees withheld salary increases and bonuses precisely because they were on maternity leave. Similarly, severa l women reported that their employers used the maternity leave period to create changes to their job including demoting them upon return. For instance one of the women in the study said, I went from existence a regional manager to a store manager and had to take a ?5,000 pay cut. While I was on maternity leave they advertised my job and gave it to a man just as they had joked they would (Davis et.al 2005). Evidence from these reports and surveys clearly project a worrisome picture of maternity discrimination and how availing authorized maternity leave could very be a stumbling block for women in terms of their armorial bearinger prospects, promotions, pay increases and more seriously, how it could actually en sex the risk of losing ones job. A more comminuted picture of the prevailing scenario is the fact that since 2007 at that place have been more than 9000 pregnancy discrimination cases against employees across the UK. Speaking of the trend, Maria Miller, the subgenus Pastor for Women and Equalities, said, Its unacceptable that women suffer from discrimination when they become pregnant and yet many are saying that they are handle unfairly at work because of it (DCMS, 2013). A new national research at the cost of ?1m has been commissioned to assess and to address the systemic troubles that have resulted in the engross for women. It is expected that the findings from this research and further policy reforms would contribute to improving the situation for pregnant working women (DCMS 2013). However, already there is some good development from the legal policy perspective that would ease the situation for women. naked as a jaybird enatic Leave (More Choice)Given the breathing problems and the resultant gender bias in the labor market it is clear that providing maternity leave and benefits as social wellbeing scheme , though absolutely essential from the health perspective of the newborn and the mother, has only added to the woes of women in the job m arket. A new and potentially improved social care policy is the proposed shared parental leave policy which is slated to come into effect from April 2015. downstairs this scheme newborn nestling care could be easily shared between the father and the mother. This new policy permits fathers to take paternal leave just as mothers could up to 50 weeks and also permits them to take the leave in a discontinue pattern so that mothers and fathers can surrogate in caring for the newborn baby while at the same time balance their work and family. This provides an opportunity for women who want to return to work a minuscular early not to be likewise concerned or stressed out about the baby care as the father could equally share the care of the newborn.ConclusionMaternity leave and maternity benefits are indispensable provisions from a pure social care perspective. These policies are in place to provide support to working women and to improve the health standards of the child and the mother . However, employers who are under pressures of poor rescue are often discriminatory against pregnant women as the cost of maternity payments and the long leave of absence from work are considered to be unnecessary and avoidable costs to the company. This has resulted in women availing maternal leave to be left redundant and replaced by others. Those who return back to work are also forced to compromise their work stipulation and compensation resulting in poor move prospects for the woman. Though maternity benefits are organisation policies and legal recourse is an option against maternity discrimination, barely a small destiny of affected women take that route to justice. The government has however instigated more research and has also come up with a novel and well balanced solution to the problem with the introduction of the draft for the shared parental leave. This new provision is certainly a positive step in not only balancing the gender divide but also in avoiding discri mination against women at the workplace as it provides more options for the parents to balance their time between work and baby care.ReferencesDavis S, Neathey F, Regan J & Willison R 2005. Pregnancy discrimination at work A qualitative study, Pregnant & Productive. Working Paper Series no 23. gin mill by The Institute for Employment Studies. Online getable at Accessed bump into twenty-fifth 2014 DCMS 2013. ?1 million to help tackle pregnancy discrimination at the workplace, online getable Accessed present 25th 2014McVeigh T 2013. One in seven women are made redundant after maternity leave, online Available at Accessed March 25th 2014 ONS 2011. 2011 Census cosmos Estimates for the United Kingdom, Online Available at Accessed March 25th 2014The Telegraph 2014. New Parental leave Whats on asseverate for mums and dadsOnline Available at Accessed March 25th 2014Ward R 2011. Health and comparison impacts of well-paid parental leave, Pub by WHEC and MA. Online Available at A ccessed March 25th 2014Working Families 2009. Report of Working families helpline and Alliance against pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. Pregnant women and new mums at risk of redundancy. Online Available at http//www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PRENANCY-DISCRIMINATION-2.pdf Accessed March 25th 2014