OF the one in two women who experience unfair treatment around maternity, the Australian Human Rights Commission found 75 per cent said they took action.
However, only eight per cent of the women complained within their organisation and 10 per cent took it to a government agency.
In contrast, almost a third chose to avoid confrontation by looking for another job or resigning instead.
“Psychologically, you’ve only got a certain amount of energy. You want to direct it to your baby, instead of trying to go to war with your employer but I think there’s a variety of reasons”, sex discrimination officer, Elizabeth Broderick told The Weekly.
“The major part of it [for victims] is that they don’t want to be labelled as ‘that woman’ – the troublemaker,” Broderick said.
The results revealed that women in smaller businesses and communities were less likely to speak out.
Women often think the discrimination they face isn’t severe enough to formally complain, Broderick said. More than 60 per cent confide in friends and family instead.
“[These victims] don’t actually understand that it’s unlawful. They often think ‘Oh, it wasn’t serious enough anyway’,” she told The Weekly.
The majority of female victims experienced discrimination upon returning to work, with 35 per cent reporting negative comments about breastfeeding.
Women, while victims, were also the biggest offenders.
“One of the most depressing things for me in doing this review, has been that a lot of the discriminatory attitude has come from other women”, Broderick said.
“Some of the worst discrimination came from female managers discriminating against other females”.
Broderick said the blame can’t lay on the individual, but the organisation.
“There needs to be a zero tolerance of discriminatory behaviour applied towards women in the workplace and they need to be assured they won’t be victimised for speaking out.”
The statistics will start to decline when this occurs, Broderick said.
“In most organisations, there’s a way to go before we get to that place.”
