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On 20 April I attended the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet Europe) roundtable in the European Parliament about work-life balance, pregnancy and parenthood-related discrimination.

Countless women experience negative evaluations after disclosing their pregnancy to their employer, and are being accused of not doing their work properly. Liesbet Stevens from the Institute for Equality of Women and Men in Belgium shared real life cases, such as the woman who told her employer that she was pregnant and was given even more dangerous work in order to encourage her to resign; the woman who was accused of being untrustworthy by her employer because she waited two months into her pregnancy before telling him about it; the woman who returned to work after having a child only to be told she couldn’t do the challenging work her male colleagues were doing and was therefore given a less qualified job. Ms Stevens called for affordable and quality infrastructure for care, more flexible family-related leave, mandatory paternity leave focusing on getting fathers involved in child care, and access to justice including higher sanctions for employer discriminating their workers due to parenthood.

Katarzyna Wilkołaska-Żuromska, Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland told participants that mothers would often rather have their own mothers taking care of their children instead of encouraging the father to do so. Poland has long maternity leave, yet paternity leave is two weeks and only 2 percent of men use it, the most common reason being because of the gender pay gap.

When it comes to having children, women lose and men win; there is a motherhood penalty and a fatherhood bonus, said Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz. Furthermore, investment in men’s engagement in domestic work and the need for childcare facilities should be taken up by the EU’s Country-Specific Recommendations to Member States and by the use of European Social Funds, proposed Ms Kozłowska-Rajewicz. Marie Arena MEP expressed her frustration at how hard it is even within the European Parliament to get support for minimum wage; the main obstacles to overcome are the arguments of subsidiarity and cost. Discrimination against women can only be fought if men are given the same right to take paternity leave, said Ms Arena. Pimenta Lopes MEP also outlined the need for better distribution of wages, minimum wage, childcare and other services. Jean Lambert MEP reminded participants about often-neglected migrant parents and single parents.

3 out of 4 pregnant women and new mothers in the United Kingdom experience negative and potentially discriminatory treatment at work each year; 1 out of 9 women has been dismissed; 1 out of 4 has been verbally harassed; 2 out of 5 mothers their health and welfare at work were at risk and 4 percent left work due to this perceived risk. These figures come from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in UK that recently launched a campaign #WorksForMe.

The roundtable followed the European Commission’s withdrawal of the Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 92/85/EEC (the so-called new Maternity Directive) and the publication of the European Commission’s Roadmap for the initiative “New start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families”. As Social Platform we have long campaigned together with our members – particularly the European Women’s Lobby and the Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU – for the Maternity Leave Directive, and we have continued our strong stance by contributing to the European Commission’s recent consultation on work-life balance.

Read our position: Investing in services and work-life balance to improve gender equality.