Pregnant women face discrimination in working life in Finland: Report

Discrimination on grounds of pregnancy is widespread in working life, according to a report commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

One in four pregnant people experienced pregnancy discrimination in Finland, said the ministry in a press release on Thursday referring to the report.

When taking into account both experiences of discrimination and other negative experiences, such as fear of jeopardising one’s position at work, the problem concerns nearly half of all pregnant people.

Discrimination on grounds of pregnancy is rarely reported to the official bodies.

The most common reason for not reporting discrimination is the expectation that nothing would be done.

However, the majority of those who reported their experiences of discrimination considered that the outcome was at least partly fair.

The report stated that the most common consequence of pregnancy discrimination is people having their fixed-term employment relationship terminated due to pregnancy or family leave.

This finding is in line with the observations made earlier by the Ombudsman for Equality.

Other consequences of pregnancy discrimination include slow or stalling career progression and various health effects.

Some respondents said that their experiences of discrimination had affected their family size or their decision when to have children.

The report found that while awareness of the channels for reporting pregnancy discrimination has increased over the past ten years, people’s faith in their own opportunities to influence matters has decreased and the fear of different consequences has become stronger.

The negative consequences resulting from pregnancy discrimination have also become more common.

Until now, only fragmented information has been available on experiences of pregnancy discrimination, and it has been based, for example, on material produced by the authorities.

The report sheds light, for the first time, on the number and consequences of experiences of discrimination at the level of the whole population.

The report is based on the population survey conducted in 2024.

The results are representative of the population they describe in a reliable manner the situation of pregnant people living in Finland in 2012–2023.