New research from Professor Amanda Cooklin, Director of La Trobe’s Judith Lumley Centre, has examined perceived workplace discrimination and its effects on the mental health of working parents.
“Parents are a significant cohort in the labour market, employed in workplaces and organisations which may not always enable the flexibility required to combine work and family life.”
“This can limit the opportunities and support provided to parents, causing them to miss out on opportunities such as training or promotion. It can also lead to resentment or hostility directed against parents,” Professor Cooklin explains.
“Our aim was to capture the lived experience of parents at work. We wanted to explore their subjective sense that they are missing out on opportunities, being overlooked, or being subjected to negative comments based on their status as a parent.”
Despite laws protecting parents from workplace discrimination in Australia, the study of 4268 Australin parents found that many continue to have negative experiences at work – even beyond the very early parenting period, before and during parental leave and return to work.
“Nearly half of the mothers in our study reported missing out on career opportunities due to their status as a parent, and one-third reported negative comments from either peers or managers. We also found that one in five fathers reported negative experiences based on their status as a parent,” Professor Cooklin says.
“Our study also found that perceived discrimination was associated with poorer mental health and higher occupational stress, and these parents were more likely to want to leave their job in the next 12 months, irrespective of gender.”
Without due attention from workplaces, Professor Cooklin says that working parents are at risk of being stigmatised or overlooked at work, with subsequent negative mental health consequences.
