Pregnancy at work: a national survey

The aim of this study is to fill the gap in knowledge around women’s experiences in paid work in Ireland during pregnancy and after childbirth using data from the first nationally representative survey of mothers. The survey was conducted in the autumn of 2009 and involved mothers who had given birth between July 2007 and June 2009. The six main objectives of the study are: • To investigate women’s experiences of pregnancy at work with a view to assessing levels of pregnancy-related discrimination in Ireland. • To shed light on the job and organisational factors that influence the likelihood of unfair treatment of women during pregnancy, in order to identify the organisational practices that minimise unfair treatment and to assist in the development and targeting of supports and policy interventions. • To examine the impact of experiences at work during pregnancy on crisis pregnancy (experiencing the pregnancy as emotionally traumatic or a personal crisis). • To assess the take-up of maternity and parental leave among women who had given birth in the survey’s two-year reference period, to identify problems in relation to taking such leave and to determine the extent of employer top-ups to these leave arrangements. • To examine women’s transitions back into employment after childbirth and to investigate the role of preferences, constraints and opportunities in both the decision to return to work and the timing of that return. • To compare women’s employment conditions before and after childbirth.