A survey of 2,000 mothers of children aged 12-18 months by the NationalCentre for Social Research, presented at a seminar last week, found thatsingle mothers, low paid mothers or those working for companies withouttrade union recognition were much less likely to have access topart-time work, job sharing, flexible working hours and homeworking.
The report said, 'A substantial proportion of these mothers did not haveaccess even to arrangements they were legally entitled to, such as theright to request flexible working and to take parental and emergencyleave. Efforts to increase awareness and the accessibility offamily-friendly arrangements should be targeted at certain types ofmothers.'
Fifteen per cent of mothers who returned to work reported a decrease intheir earnings, despite not having reduced their working hours. Twentyper cent of mothers said their employer did not provide parental oremergency leave and 22 per cent said their work offered no support withchildcare or other support, such as career breaks and retraining.
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