Employers say they are reluctant to employ Women who may have children

Thursday 22 August 2019

Employers say they would be reluctant to hire women who may have children – but Britain’s bosses are becoming more enlightened according to new research.

One in eight employers say they would be reluctant to hire a woman who they thought may go on to have children, a new YouGov survey for Young Women’s Trust has found.

In the survey of 800 HR decision-makers, a significant minority (12 per cent) were unsure about hiring women who may have children in the future – despite it being illegal to make recruitment decisions on this basis. 14 per cent of male HR decision-makers and ten per cent of female decision-makers expressed this view.

Despite the scale of the problem, fewer male HR decision-makers than previously expressed reluctance to hire women who may go on to have children (14 per cent in 2019, compared with 16 per cent in 2018 and 18 per cent in 2017); during this period reluctance amongst female HR decision-makers has remained constant at around ten per cent.

One in seven HR decision-makers (14 per cent) said that the organisation they work in takes account of whether a woman is pregnant or has children during decisions about career progression or promotion – which is against the law. Again, this represents progress, compared with 22 per cent who reported this in 2018 and 25 per cent in 2017.

“It is encouraging that fewer bosses than previously say they would be reluctant to employ women who may go on to have children. However, there can be no room for complacency as ‘dinosaur bosses’ are still found in many workplaces, unfairly overlooking women when it comes to recruitment and promotion and breaking the law in the process.”