UK government betraying new mothers, says Yvette Cooper

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/21/government-betraying-new-mothers-yvette-cooper

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The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has accused the government of betraying new mothers by making it harder for women to tackle employer discrimination.

Cooper said women who took maternity leave faced losing their jobs and paying a £1,200 charge if they asked an employment tribunal to assert their rights.

She said that up to 50,000 women were losing their jobs every year after returning from maternity leave.

"New mums are being betrayed by this government," said Cooper. "Discrimination against women who take maternity leave is a hidden outrage, and a complete waste for the economy.

"The revelation that up to 50,000 women a year could be losing their jobs on maternity leave is a shocking one. Yet far from doing anything about it, ministers are making it worse by charging women who challenge discrimination at an employment tribunal."

Speaking before the Labour women's conference in Brighton on Saturday, Cooper said renewed support for better childcare and for women at risk of discrimination when pregnant or on maternity leave would form part of her party's efforts to help those women and their families that they believe are losing out under the coalition government.

Among the proposals is a tightening of maternity laws to shift the onus on employers to support women during pregnancy and on maternity leave.

Cooper said the government appeared to be unaware of the effect their policies were having on women. "They just don't get the fact that they are hitting women so hard," she said. "They just don't get women's lives and the pressures they face."

Cooper has spoken recently of the discrimination she faced when she went on maternity leave for her third child in 2004 and had to battle against "unsupportive" civil servants in her department.

"They almost tried to cut me off completely from everything … So it became a bit of a fight," she said. "But my experience was mild compared to lots of women. I have a friend who was made redundant twice while on maternity leave by blue chip companies who should have known better."

She said Labour's policy for schools to provide childcare from 8am to 6pm was designed to help all parents, but particularly those at work. However, she would not criticise women who chose to stay at home to look after their children.

"Many women don't have any sort of choice and can't even afford to take their maternity leave," Cooper said.

Ed Miliband told the women's conference that it was no longer practical for schools to close mid-afternoon.

"In the last century it might have been OK for school to stay open until the mid-afternoon ... when you often had one parent staying at home. It doesn't make sense in this century. Many schools do stay open until six o'clock at night but many schools don't. The next Labour government will legislate for a primary school guarantee that every school is an 8am to 6pm school."

Cooper told the conference: "Childcare is now as vital to our economic infrastructure as transport, housing or IT. It's not all about bricks, trains and cars and boys' toys. In the modern economy, half the workforce are women. And childcare is the vital economic infrastructure that helps women and all parents work."

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