The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has expressed its concern over recent data that shows that pregnant women in the workplace are experiencing more perceived discrimination than last reported six years ago.

 

Director of EOWA, Helen Conway, says that the ABS Pregnancy and Employment Transitions report shows that 67.300 were the victim of some level of perceived discrimination in the workplace as a result of their pregnancy.

 

Over two thirds said they felt they were overlooked for promotion, training or development, while 28 per cent reported receiving inappropriate comments from managers.

 

"We continue to see sexism in the workplace," Ms Conway says "We say we're an egalitarian society, but when it comes to treating women equally, many organisations fail the test."

 

Ms Conway says the ABS report shows that nearly one in five women permanently left their job during their pregnancy, and that it underscored the continued trouble of boosting female workforce participation, which currently sits at 59 per cent.

 

The World Economic Forum has found while Australia is ranked number one in the world for female educational attainment, it ranks 44 for female labour force participation and 68 on wage equality for similar work.

 

Recent research released by the Grattan Institute shows that boosting the female workforce participation rate by as little as 6 per cent would translate into a boost to the country’s annual GDP by around $25 billion dollars.

 

"Organisations need to come to grips with the impact of family on workplaces. It's not a 'womens' issue, it's a societal issue."

 

"We need to bring about cultural change, so that flexible work arrangements, and flexible careers, are seen as the norm," Ms Conway says.

 

"Our Agency has been specifically tasked under proposed new legislation currently before the Senate, the Workplace Gender Equality Act, to equip employers to introduce flexible work - for both women and men."