Every seven minutes, a woman in the UK loses her job simply for becoming a mother. New analysis shows that up to 74,000 women a year are dismissed, made redundant or pressured out of work while pregnant, on maternity leave or within a year of returning — marking a 37% rise since 2016, when the figure stood at 54,000.
The findings, published by campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed in partnership with empowerment organisation Women In Data, expose the scale of workplace discrimination against mothers, despite the introduction of extended redundancy protections in April 2024. The data was drawn from a survey of 35,800 parents, with a nationally representative sample of 5,870 respondents randomly selected for the final report.
More than one in ten women (12.3%) reported being sacked, constructively dismissed or made redundant during pregnancy or maternity leave. Almost half (49.5%) of mothers surveyed experienced negative treatment in the workplace due to their pregnancy or maternity status, while over one in five (20.6%) of those who faced discrimination ultimately left their job.
“We have long suspected things are getting worse, not better,” said Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed. “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.”
New Redundancy Protections Fail to Stem Discrimination
The UK government introduced new redundancy protections for pregnant women and returning mothers in April 2024, aiming to prevent unfair dismissals. Under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, employers must offer a suitable alternative vacancy — if one exists — to any employee made redundant during pregnancy, maternity leave or within six months of returning to work.
But Pregnant Then Screwed’s findings suggest the changes have done little to deter discrimination. More than a third (35.9%) of women said they were sidelined or demoted after announcing their pregnancy or returning from maternity leave. Despite this, just 2% of women who experience discrimination take legal action, suggesting fear of retaliation or a lack of awareness about employment rights.
Taisiya Merkulova, project lead at Women In Data, highlighted the wider societal impact. “Collectively, we need to close the gender gap and remove the challenges women face to achieve equality of opportunities in the workplace and reduce the burden of the unspoken ‘tax’ on mothers from additional unpaid labour as carers and in the home,” she said.
‘Career Shredder’ Campaign Aims to Highlight Discrimination
To raise awareness, Pregnant Then Screwed launched a provocative campaign, featuring a live “career shredder” — a giant installation that shreds mothers’ CVs in real time to illustrate how many women’s careers are being destroyed by maternity discrimination. The event, streamed on a billboard at Westfield Shopping Centre, invited women to upload their own CVs to careershredder.com, symbolically demonstrating how pregnancy can jeopardise a woman’s job.
The campaign also includes posters across the UK provided by Clear Channel, appearing on the same day as the BBC’s The Apprentice, with the slogan: “Mum, you’re fired.”
What Needs to Change?
Advocates are calling for greater accountability from employers and stronger legal protections for pregnant workers. Pregnant Then Screwed is urging businesses to:
- Increase paternity leave to promote gender equality in caregiving
- Advertise jobs as flexible unless there is a clear business reason not to
- Collect maternity retention data to track and improve workplace policies
“It doesn’t matter if you land the job,” the campaign says, “if you’re only going to be pushed out when you become a mum.”
With maternity discrimination continuing at alarming levels, campaigners argue that government action alone is not enough — workplace culture must change to ensure pregnancy is not treated as a career-ending event.