After a year in which several studies have highlighted the numerous difficulties faced by women who want to have children, family reconciliation remains one of the main challenges in closing the gender gap in the Spanish labor market Continue advancing your career Professional. The recent report from the Social Policy Institute (IPSE) reinforces this trend, portraying motherhood-related workplace harassment as a large-scale phenomenon profound social consequences. According to the document presented today, the situation is “extremely serious and morally intolerable” and could have a strong impact on the vital decisions of thousands of working women. In total, 72% Spanish According to the IPSE Barometer 2024, they say they do not have children or expand their family for fear of reprisals at work.
The figures from the “Maternal Bullying Report 2024” illustrate the extent of the problem: one in five pregnant women say they have suffered harassment or discrimination in connection with motherhood. Of young mothers between the ages of 18 and 30, 32% said they were pregnant have received pressure or threats during pregnancy, while 27% of those who requested a reduction in work hours to care for children report experiencing retaliation. No less relevant is that 41% of temporary contracts of pregnant women were not renewed for reasons attributed to “internal restructuring”. In addition, 58% of mothers surveyed confirmed this Being a mother hurt her career. Professional.
The definition of Bullying Maternal, which establish the IPSE, includes a wide range of behaviors including “any form of harassmentPressure, retaliation, hostile treatment, workplace degradation, or discrimination against a woman because of her pregnancy, maternity leave, breastfeeding, or status as a mother.” Specific manifestations may include deterioration of functions, deliberate isolation, offensive comments and pressure to resign, in addition to obstacles to agreement, salary penalties,psychological stress or work stress. These practices can affect both the pre-pregnancy phase and during pregnancy, maternity leave and work reintegration, and affect large companies, SMEs and the public administration itself.
The 2020-2024 trend analysis paints a worsening scenario. The IPSE points to a continued increase in informal complaints and estimates that NGOs and trade unions have now registered 18 or 25% more inquiries of pregnant women have been harassed since the year of the pandemic. The increase in precarity and the increase in fixed-term contracts, with a proportion of women at 18.6% compared to 14.7% for men in 2024, increase the risk Bullying in the work environment. At the same time it is Sick leave related to mental disorders According to UGT data, work-related problems among women aged 25 to 39 have increased by 29%. The World Health Organization already identifies work pressure related to motherhood as a risk factor for mental health.
Regarding the sectors most affected by these practices, Hospitality and tourism They are at the top of the list and are characterized by a very high temporality of work and an obvious lack of internal protocols. In Trade and customer serviceThe pressure on employees to resign and the direct punishment for requesting vacation or sick leave are particularly pronounced. The area of Health and social services It represents emotional overload and rigid hierarchies, leading to high rates of sick leave due to stress during pregnancy. The Public administration It also does not escape, depicting situations of forced mobility and loss of function that are difficult to visualize. After all, the collective of Domestic workers and nursing life Bullying on the mother’s side in a particularly covert way, operating outside the formal corporate structure.
From a legal point of view, the report reminds that a dismissal due to pregnancy is considered null and void, although many companies resort to alternative mechanisms such as demotion of functions or harassment in the workplace up to voluntary termination. According to IPSE, the justice system is has clear weaknesses: The burden of proof falls on the victim, making it difficult to document everyday humiliation or abuse. Legal proceedings last between eight and twenty months, a period during which the damage is often irreversible.
The IPSE warns of structural deficiencies that make it difficult to eliminate the phenomenon: Inadequacy of inspection unemployment, lack of detailed official statistics on mother harassment, Lack of protocols binding national laws in companies, lack of quick legal remedies for victims and a perceived lack of coherence between feminist political discourse and policies to support women.
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