Irina Malenko: women are being punished for pregnancy in the UK

According to Vladimir Bukovsky, the former Soviet dissident, living in Britain now, in the UK, the country with 600-year-old democratic and humanistic traditions, a few thousands of women are being dismissed from their offices every year only because they become expectant mothers. Employers often make woman to cut down their working hours and leave them without a right to take a day off for post-natal medical examinations. The results of the special research, conducted not long ago in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, reveal that employees regularly violate the legislation. Labour party took some measures in this field, but nothing was done to make employees observe the law. According to the research, very often women do not know their rights and they are afraid to file an action against their employers, because they can make their staying at the office unbearable. Moreover, in the Irish Republic pregnant woman often work in the night.

Here is the examples, obtained as a result of the research: A woman was dismissed from a shop because “consumers did not enjoy looking at the pregnant woman”;

A woman, worked at nursery, was dismissed when she was going to take a maternity leave;

An employer phoned to a woman, who was on leave after she had born a baby, to inform her that another person had beeb hired instead of her;

Is not it a violation of human rights? Actually, it is clear what made the former Soviet dissident outraged: such a situation would be impossible in the Soviet Union.