I REFER to Madam Lim Sor Lan's letter on Tuesday, 'Just 3 months pregnant but no job offer'. The Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) regularly receives calls from pregnant employees who have been discriminated against, harassed or dismissed from their jobs, some of whom also experience difficulty finding a job for the duration of their pregnancy after they have been dismissed.

Aware applauds the Government for the recent changes to the law, most notably where employees' right to maternity benefit is protected from six months before confinement (up from three months), and where employees need to work 90 days to enjoy this protection (halved from 180 days).

These commendable changes still leave many women like Madam Lim vulnerable to employers' prejudices.

As long as women feel their jobs are at risk, they will be hesitant about having (more) babies, despite repeated government attempts to boost the total fertility rate.

As an added protection, Aware suggests that employers be mandated to provide maternity insurance similar to workmen's compensation, whereby pregnant employees who have been dismissed can make a claim on the insurance, resulting in higher premiums for the company.

Another measure: Provide tax incentives for companies which hire and maintain a certain percentage of pregnant employees over, say, a five-year period, and a similar tax penalty for companies that dismiss pregnant employees.

Unless effective solutions are found to prevent discrimination against pregnant women, it is not likely that the fertility rate will rise to the replacement level of 2.1, no matter how much Baby Bonuses are paid out.

Tan Joo Hymn (Mrs)
Chair, PopWatch Sub-committee
Aware

This article was first published in The Straits Times.