Workplace Factors Influence Parents on Crisis Pregnancy, Seminar Told
Crisis Pregnancy Agency and TCD Centre for Gender & Womens Studies Host Workplace Seminar
A major seminar was held today in Dublin for employers and policy makers to highlight the importance of workplace policy in influencing crisis pregnancy decisions. The seminar, which was opened by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Martin Cullen TD, was jointly hosted by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the Centre for Gender & Women’s Studies of Trinity College Dublin.
Ms Katharine Bulbulia, Chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, said that employers have a critical role to play in the decisions made on crisis pregnancies. “All the research shows that the services and supports facilitated by the workplace are required not just by pregnant women in general but most of all by those women facing crisis pregnancy. Given womens increasing role in the labour force, this needs to move up the business agenda.”
1 in 5 women between the ages of 25-34 have experienced a crisis pregnancy. The average age for a crisis pregnancy is 23 for women and 25 for men, with 81 per cent of these likely to be in employment. When women are faced with a crisis pregnancy, their decisions about whether to continue with the pregnancy and whether to continue in work if they decide to become parents are significantly influenced by workplace policy and culture, Ms Bulbulia said.
Ms. Caroline Spillane, Director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), stressed that companies need to think more about their workplace policy and culture around this area. “Our research indicates that there are strong linkages between parenting, pregnancy decision-making and the workplace. Central to parents and the workplace in such situations is childcare. Workers need to be supported to allow them to combine employment with family and personal commitments; this is what underpins work-life balance. This is an issue that affects workers across the full gamut of socio-economic groups and business sectors.”
Research presented at the seminar was commissioned by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the TCD Centre for Gender & Women’s Studies, titled “The Workplace of the Future: Reconciling Pregnancy, Parenting and Employment.” Dr. Maryann Valiulis, Senior Lecturer and the Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies (CGWS) highlighted how the flexibility needed for parenting could benefit employer and employee. “The nature of work and family has changed radically in Ireland. Employers need to see them as part of a whole rather than as an antithesis to each other. Work life balance and diversity policies in the workplace are key to Irelands future economic success.”
The seminar featured Irish and international experts including Dr Tom McCarthy, chief executive of the Irish Management Institute, Mr. Eddie Sullivan, Secretary General for Public Service Management at the Department of Finance, Mr. Bob Lee, founder and CEO of the Great Place to Work Institute Ireland, Ms. Freida Murray, Equality Opportunities Manager with the ESB, Ms. Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Director of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, Dr. Carol Baxter, Head of Development at the Equality Authority, Dr. Rosalind Chait Barnett, Director of the Community, Families & Work Programme at the Women’s Studies Research Centre at Brandeis University, Massachussetts, and Dr. Aline D. Masuda, researcher at the International Centre of Work and Family at IESE Business School in Barcelona.
The speakers outlined present trends and evidence in the areas of: economic sustainability and labour force participation; challenges to implementing flexible workplace policies and models of best practice as well as national and international policy developments in reconciling work and family life.
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For further information, please contact:
Q4 PR01-4751444
Jackie Gallagher 087-2371838
