The Awakening Foundation recently published the results of a survey in which 27 percent of respondents said that they had been asked during job interviews whether they were pregnant or planned to have children. Half of those surveyed had been given a hard time over pregnancy or applying for maternity leave, or had heard of the same thing happening to other women. If workplaces are so unfriendly, how can workers who may become mothers in future, or are already parents, have peace of mind about giving birth and raising children?
Awakening Foundation chairperson Chen Yi-chien says these are all forms of discrimination. Referring to her own experience, she says that when she went for an interview with the Taipei City Government’s Law and Regulation Commission after returning from study abroad, she was asked in a roundabout way about her “plans for the future.” Asking a few questions that are unrelated to the actual content of the job might be motivated by genuine concern, but it can also give job applicants a gloomy feeling, says Chen.
According to the foundation’s survey, 48 percent of respondents said that they or their colleagues, relatives or friends had been put in a difficult situation over their plans to take maternity leave. Some had had their leave applications turned down outright and some had had to find a deputy to do their own jobs. Others had been told to accept a wage cut or demotion or even resign after taking maternity leave and receiving a maternity allowance. 65 percent of respondents were worried that they would be given a hard time if they applied for maternity leave in future. 45 percent of them were afraid of losing their jobs and 40 percent were worried about their job performance evaluations, while a third of respondents were worried about a possible impact on their promotion prospects and a third had the same concern about their income.
Photo: Huang Pang-ping, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃邦平
Wang Chin-jung, a senior executive officer in the Ministry of Labor’s Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, says that the law was amended in December last year to increase fines for gender discrimination in the workplace to between NT$300,000 and NT$1.5 million. If workers encounter unfavorable treatment or discriminatory language, they can make a record of such incidents or ask coworkers to be their witnesses. If they are dismissed because they get pregnant, they can appeal, and the employer bears the burden of proof in the investigation, meaning that it is up to the employer to prove that the dismissal had nothing to do with the pregnancy.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
婦女新知基金會最近公布調查,百分之二十七受訪者面試工作時曾被問是否懷孕或打算生子,半數遇過或聽聞懷孕或請育嬰假會被刁難,職場不友善,未來可能當媽媽或已當家長的勞工如何安心生養?
婦女新知基金會董事長陳宜倩說:「這些都是歧視!」她引述自身經驗,留學回國到台北市政府法規會面試時,就被委婉地問到「未來的計畫」,問一些與工作實質內容無關的問題也許是出於關心,卻會讓應徵者心中有陰影。
基金會調查,百分之四十八受訪者自己、同事或親友曾因想請育嬰假被刁難,有人直接被拒絕,有的要自己找職務代理,還有的被要求請完育嬰假、領完津貼要減薪或降職,甚至離職;百分之六十五受訪者擔心將來請育嬰假會被刁難,其中四成五怕丟工作、四成擔心考績,害怕升遷或收入受影響的各有三分之一。
勞動部勞動條件及就業平等司專門委員王金蓉表示,去年十二月已修法,職場性別歧視提高到可罰三十萬至一百五十萬元,勞工遇到不利對待或歧視言語可以收集、記錄或請同事作證,若因懷孕被解僱,申訴審查時,雇主要負舉證責任,證明與解雇與懷孕無關。
(自由時報記者黃邦平)
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