The survey, by business services firm Regus, has uncovered that more firms than ever are refusing to give jobs to mothers – even if this means they are breaking the law.
38% of bosses are concerned that mothers are more likely to be less flexible and not as hard working as others whilst 31% fear that they will fall pregnant again, leaving them short staffed and with a maternity leave bill.
The survey of 10,000 employers showed that only 26% intended to hire working mothers during this year, which is a big reduction on the 38% who said that they would last year.
Many believe that this is all due to the fact that new family friendly laws on maternity leave and flexible working simply make it too difficult to employ women with children.
However there is light at the end of the tunnel for those mothers who do wish to work. There is a growing sector of ‘Mumpreneurs’ who, rather than waiting to be employed have started their own businesses.
Researched carried out by MumpreneurUK, the leading resource and support network for self employed mums, shows that there are currently in excess of 300,000 mum owned businesses in the UK generating a whopping £5.6 billion to the economy each year.
Laura Rigney, co-founder of MumpreneurUK said “With the effects of the recession still being felt, more and more mums are starting their own businesses. They feel they have no other choice in this climate and the study by Regus will simply spur more to do so.
Rigney added “The mumpreneur sector is growing rapidly and we are here to assist any mum who feels they would rather take the self-employment route. Setting up a business from scratch is not easy but mums seem to have a natural talent for it and are proving themselves highly successful everyday!”
