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More than a third of pregnant women fear losing their jobs over Covid safety concerns, according to a survey. Maternity Action, which claims that health and safety rules for pregnant women in the workplace are “not fit for purpose”, found that 36% of women who were pregnant during the pandemic said they felt worried about losing their job if they took time off or asked their employer to do more to protect them from Covid. More than two-thirds (69%) of pregnant women said they were fairly or very worried about catching Covid because of their work. A fifth of respondents (20%) said they took time off or even left their job because they were so concerned about catching Covid. Maternity Action's newly published report Unsafe and Unsupported paints a picture of confusion and misunderstandings over health and safety provision for pregnant women in workplaces. [pullquote]The situation for pregnant women is dire and is only getting worse as the pandemic progresses” – Ros Bragg, Maternity Action[/pullquote] It’s calling on government to support businesses with funding for paid maternity suspensions to ensure that pregnant women aren’t under pressure to work in unsafe environments. Ros Bragg, director of Maternity Action said the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities were “wholly inadequate” when it came to enforcing workplace health and safety, leaving women faced with an impossible choice of taking their employer to a tribunal or carry on working in unsafe conditions. “The situation for pregnant women is dire and is only getting worse as the pandemic progresses,” she said. “A third of pregnant women have worried about losing their jobs because of Covid safety concerns and they are frankly right to be worried – because the system that is supposed to protect them is not fit for purpose.
