Building Legal Capability Of Pregnant Women At Work

Grant: £57,300
November 10, 2015

The project will produce four short videos guiding pregnant women and new mothers through the processes they need to follow to resolve disputes about management of sickness at work and will also scope use of apps to deliver maternity rights information.

Pregnancy discrimination, including poor management of sickness, is widespread. Government research found that 11% of pregnant women lose their jobs because of discrimination. Only 8% of these women take formal action (pursue a grievance, seek advice, employment tribunal claim).

The videos will guide low income women through informal meetings with their employers and the formal grievance process, complementing Maternity Action’s widely used online information. The videos will be informed by focus groups with low income women and input from unions, and will be piloted with women prior to release to test efficacy. The videos will be fully evaluated and the learning will inform future projects to build legal capability.

Discussions have been held with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about joint work to deliver maternity rights information through apps and the project will also scope this work, producing a detailed proposal.