The requirement for employers to allow maternity leave under United Kingdom law is a disadvantage to woman in the work place
United Kingdom is considered to be one of the highest pay gab in Europe between man and woman , woman faces the threat of low pay and limitation of being less likely to be appointed to higher profile position. (Anon., 2012) , the notion behind this limitation can be linked to law in support of woman taking time off duty and still getting paid while away from work. This essay will research and critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of maternity leave on employee and employer.
Information source revealed during the recession period in United Kingdom , woman of child bearing age are likely to face the obstacle of gaining job employment , (Marie-Petrou, 2012) because of the employment law surrounding maternity right , employers are reducing the risk and cost of production by declining women's that are at the age of having family and settling down . Female managers statistically up to 25 % agree to it, feeling reluctant taking woman who have children or is of a child bearing age (HILLS, 2012) This is simply to say discrimination of employing woman that are of child bearing age are not only limited to men but also woman. The Female managers argument is based on taking time off duty reducing operational volume and productivity.
Should having the potential of bearing children that will later in life contribute to the society we live in be a cause of discrimination in this modern age ? Why should woman maternity leave be a cause of discrimination in gaining employment to woman by employers regardless of the gender of the recruitment manager?
Pregnant employee have legal right which include pay...
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...nd employee regarding maternity leave and maternity pay , businesses faces low productivity and operation when female employee take time off for maternity period , female employee are currently facing the obstacle of redundancy while away from duty for maternity period, this limitation does not affect large and governmental organisation due to their investment capital and substitute of staff , this essay has reviled that being a female might be a limitation of employment in the labour market , it is also brought to awareness that businesses faces the treat of paying compensation to staff regarding maternity discrimination or unlawful dismissal
A further research can be made to identify if there has ever being a grant opportunity for employers by the United Kingdom government or if there is any financial support to woman going on maternity leave by the government.
In the workplace environment it is a known fact that women are passed over for higher positions that would allow them to earn higher wages. Author of “Workplace Gender Discrimination and the Implicit Association Test" Jo- Ann Kadola stated, “Women earn 18 % less per hour than men working the same job, with the same title, with the same credentials even when a woman has a higher education.” (Kadola23) This is known as the gender gap, it happens in all occupations whether in management, directors or any high level position. Overall men and women never earn the same pay for the same job. This is known to be a worldwide fact. On every job women are always asked to prove or provide credentials for a job that men are able to obtain without proof. Kadola also stated, “Women have to show skills more often, they are required to take or be more responsible than men.” (Kadola24) Men are generally respected more. Their opinions hold more value. Men tend to have more freedom in making decisions. When it comes to merit raises they will receive a higher percentage based on the fact that they are men. When women enter the workplace it is a perceived notion that she will get married and start a family. Therefore a working mother is looked down upon based on the fact she is no staying home caring
Ray et al. Parental Leave Policies in 2 Countries – Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Overall the Family and Medical Leave Act has raised many issues on whether leave should be encourage and/or paid for by the employers. As of today, no haven policy has been enacted to tackle the challenges surrounding this issue, but positive steps have been taken and one day there will be no question that hard working employees will get the rights they
In older times, many women had to leave their job due to newly motherhood and having to care for their child, but that number has dropped significantly.
Paid maternity leave can increase female labor force participation by making it easier for women
Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.
Analysis on gender discrimination reveals that gender plays a discouraging factor in the employment of women. Throughout history men and women have been segregated into two separate sectors of employment "male" and "female." Historically, humans have witnessed various acts of fallacious imperialism that is often imposed upon groups of people based on ethnicity, skin completion and, gender. One without any socially constructed knowledge of gender would pose the question can someone really be denied employment based on gender? The answer when taking in consideration the social and empirical notions that are prevalent in society the answer would unfortunately yes, they can and have been denied historically based on gender. Various acts and interventions in efforts of alleviating the dilemma concerning employment inequalities have included a better labor market and suggestions of educational opportunities were also believed to provide a remedy to the entire crisis.
America is the one and only developed country that does not offer any paid maternity leave. Maternity leave is a period of absence from work granted to a mother before and after the birth of her child. In America this means twelve weeks of unpaid absence that guarantees her job when she returns. We are so far behind everyone that out of all of the countries around the world seven out of 196 including America do not have mandatory paid maternity leave. (Colorado public radio news) That is a sad figure, to think that we place having a family so high but don’t give the mothers the protection and security they deserve.
Stone (2007) conducted “extensive, in depth interviews with 54 women in a variety of professions-law, medicine, business, publishing, management consulting, nonprofit administration, and the like- living in major metropolitan areas across the country, half of them in their 30’s, half in their 40’s” (p. 15). Keep in mind these women Stone (2007) focuses on are “highly educated, affluent, mostly white, married women with children who had previously worked as professionals or managers whose husbands could support their being at home” (p. 14). Her findings revealed women are strongly influenced by two factors: workplace push and motherhood pull. “Many workplaces claimed to be “family friendly” and offered a variety of supports. But for women who could take advantage of them, flexible work schedules (which usually meant working part time) carried significant penalties” (Stone, 2007, p. 16). This quote represents the workplace push, where women are feeling encouraged to continue their rigorous careers with little to no family flexibility being offered from workplaces. The motherhood pull is a term used to describe the way mothers feel when they face the pressure of staying home to raise their children while still expected to maintain a steady job. “Motherhood influenced women 's decision to quit as they came to see the rhythms and
Another obstacle for women in the workplace that ties into the “Mommy Tax” is how women are generally perceived in jobs and positions of leadership versus men, as detailed by “He Works, She Works, but What Different Impressions They Make” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 347). Starting in 2018, British companies that employ more than 250 individuals will have to report information regarding how much they are paying men and women for their salaries and bonuses. The British government is hoping that this will shame companies into fixing the gender gap. By showing how much they pay each gender and how many men and women are in each salary bracket, they hope that companies that have large pay gaps will have a hard time hiring competitive talent and be forced to close the gap. Despite this step forward, some believe that more can, and needs to be, done.
Since the time women were eligible to be an employee of a workplace, they have become victims of discrimination. Discrimination is the practice of treating a person or group of people differently from other people (Webster, 2013). Thousands of women have suffered from discrimination in workplaces because they are pregnant, disabled, or of the opposite sex. It is crazy to think that someone would fire a woman because she became pregnant and needed to have some work adjustments ("pregnancy and parenting"). A woman goes through a lot of giving birth to children, and men will never understand the complications a mother encounters during the pregnancy.
Bringing a new baby into the world is one life changing experience. The lives of both the mother and the father are changed tremendously as they begin to learn to raise a child by trial and error. Maternity leave for mothers of newborns is never disagreeable; when it comes to paternity leave, however, it becomes one of the most controversial topics of the workforce. Reasons for maternity leaves and paternity leaves are both justifiable. Men should have the opportunity to take paternity leave from their jobs so that they can be a helping hand to the mother, have a chance to bond with their newborn child, and help bridge the gap in gender equality in the workplace without the stigma and criticism. After the birth of the child, women can become emotionally and physically fatigued, so men take an important role as care giver and supporter, especially in the first few weeks. If a father has an opportunity to stay home for the first couple of weeks, to care for both the mother and his new child, it will make a big impact for the family.
Maternity leave is a time when a woman leaves before her pregnancy and can stay gone from a company anywhere from 4-6 weeks, after the birth of her baby. The promise of holding your job is guaranteed, but on this leave you collect no income. The issues widely debated is whether men should have the option whether to take maternity leave and if maternity leave should be paid. Bonding is crucial to early childhood development for both parents. Introducing a baby into a family’s life, can affect a family financially and physically, due to lack of time with your child.
...d women’s biological purpose has provided men a source of comparative advantage in work. It is, therefore, natural for most companies to think that women cannot be as capable as men in terms of assuming strenuous or challenging positions because women, by default, become less participative and more vulnerable when they start to have family and children. Apparently, this situation has led to various gender discriminations in the labor market.
In the majority, cases are all about unfair and discrimination against women. Women bear the responsibility of doing housework no matter she has to work or not; Old and married women have less job and promotion opportunity; Women get a lower salary for same job; and there is occupation ceiling for women, they can hardly reach the high position in their working live. However, men are unequally treated to some extent in some cases, as what we presented in our previous pages, not all of them have paternity leave. Gender inequality and discrimination not simply affect the rights of both gender, they influence what they can get in society. More important is the influence on their mind and feeling. Inequality causes stress and anxiety. Laws help preventing the situation of inequality. And we think that education is more effective to solve the problem of inequality. We have to change our mind that men are the dominator of our world. Family, school and society should educate the new generation well. Although men are physically stronger, it doesn’t mean that they are more competent is every field. Therefore, both genders should be equally