Report on Maternal Mobbing

63% OF SPANISH WOMEN HAVE SUFFERED "MATERNAL MOBBING".

According to data from an electronic survey conducted among 768 mothers

The percentage rises to 89% among female employees who report having been discriminated against on the grounds of maternity.

67% of female employees admit to feeling uncomfortable or worried when announcing their pregnancy at work.

MADRID, 12 JULY 2019. A 63% of Spanish women have suffered job discrimination because of their maternity. This is one of the conclusions of the report: El 'mobbing maternal' a debate, prepared by the platform Women of the World and that collects the situation suffered in Spain by women who want to reconcile professional life and motherhood.

The report is the conclusion of 768 online surveys among Spanish mothers promoted by social networks. The most disturbing figure is 89% of female civil servants who report having felt job discrimination because of their maternity. "The civil service is supposed to be governed by criteria of merit and ability, but public employees, unfortunately, report another reality," says Leonor Tamayo, president of Women of the World.

Interestingly, the percentage of employed women who claim to have experienced discrimination on the grounds of maternity is much lower, although equally worrying: 57%. On the other hand, 64% of unemployed women and 50% of self-employed women reported discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of maternity. The average is a worrying 63%.

The report also asks whether they have felt uncomfortable or worried when announcing their pregnancy at work. 61% answered in the affirmative, with the group of employed women being the most concerned with 67% followed by the unemployed with 64% and civil servants with 61%. "It is unacceptable for a female civil servant with a permanent position to be worried about announcing her pregnancy," says Leonor.

They were also asked if during a job interview they have been questioned about their partner and their desire to have offspring. No one talks about self-employed women, but they are subjected to almost daily job interviews; lawyers, architects, professionals in general are being permanently audited on their maternity; an unacceptable harassment," says the president of Women of the World.

The group least affected by uncomfortable questions in the job interview is female civil servants, yet 33% report having been made uncomfortable in the job interview. Among female employees, the percentage rises to 45% and among unemployed women to 57%, the average being 57%. "Maternal mobbing, which starts from the very beginning of working life, is an attitude that we must definitely banish from our corporate culture," Leonor points out.

Finally, the survey also asked whether they had encountered any problems in reporting a reduction in working hours due to maternity leave. Half of them answered yes. Once again, female civil servants were above the average, with 56% of those interviewed reporting problems when requesting a reduction in working hours, compared with 43% for female employees. "The government approved a Royal Decree-Law on March 1 that almost nobody knows about but which is relevant: women have the right to ask to adapt their working day or even reduce it or telecommute to adapt their work and family life; the company has the obligation to respond in a reasoned manner to their request", reports the president of Women of the World.

The platform recalls that last September 11, 2018, the European Parliament warned about maternal mobbing, "a serious harassment that has a very negative impact on the physical and psychological health of working women precisely in their childbearing age," Leonor points out. "In addition, the INE shows that Spanish women would like to have more children than they have; a large part of the explanation lies in maternal mobbing. Women suffer harassment in the workplace for being or wanting to be mothers," she adds.

The platform denounces how the incorporation of women into the labor market has been encouraged, but without taking into account the female life stages, which in the end has been detrimental to all those women who wish to become mothers in Spain.

The platform announces that it will take the report to the different political parties and its intention to organize a conference in the Congress of Deputies. "What we want is to make Spanish society aware of a serious problem that has repercussions on women's health, productivity and generates a demographic winter that we finally seem to have begun to become aware of," concludes the president of Women of the World.