人权委员会收到的怀孕歧视投诉数量从2023年的52起增加到去年的71起。
The number of pregnancy discrimination complaints to the human rights commission has increased from 52 in 2023 to 71 last year.
根据澳大利亚人权委员会的一份报告，女性因“伪裁员”被迫离职，生完孩子后失去工作班次，并面临敌对的工作环境。报告警告称，父母歧视仍然是实现性别平等的主要障碍。
Women are being forced out of employment through “sham redundancies”, losing shifts and facing hostile work environments after having a baby, according to a report by the Australian Human Rights Commission which warns parental discrimination remains a major barrier to gender equality.
该委员会的报告指出，怀孕歧视在弱势群体中更为突出，包括移民女性、原住民女性、残疾人以及LGBTQ+人群。在编写报告期间，委员会与数十位父母、法律和社区倡导者举行了圆桌会议。
The commission’s report suggests pregnancy discrimination is more prominent for vulnerable groups, including immigrant and First Nations women, people with disability and LGBTQ+ people. The commission held roundtables with dozens of parents, legal and community advocates when compiling the report.
在《平衡法案》报告中详细列出的一起案例研究中，Luisa*（化名）是医疗保健行业的一名有经验的人力资源经理，在她告诉雇主自己怀孕后一个月被裁员。
In one case study detailed in the Balancing Act report, Luisa*, an experienced HR manager in the healthcare industry, was made redundant one month after telling her employer she was pregnant.
报告指出：“她的雇主质疑婴儿出生后谁会支持Luisa，因为她的家人住在海外。”
“Her employer questioned who would support Luisa after the baby was born, because her family lived overseas,” the report noted.
“Luisa解释说，她的丈夫将承担育儿假，她计划在产后尽快返回工作岗位。Luisa还提出可以继续以兼职形式工作，但裁员仍然进行下去。”性别歧视专员安娜·科迪表示，迫切需要对《性别歧视法》进行法律改革，以保护女性和家庭，她认为立法未能跟上社会变化的步伐。她说，女性害怕失去工作，常常推迟向雇主透露怀孕的消息。
“Luisa explained that her husband would take parental leave and that she planned to return to work soon after the birth. Luisa also offered to continue working on a part-time basis, but the redundancy went ahead.”The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, said urgent law reform was needed to the sex discrimination act to protect women and families, arguing legislation has not kept pace with a changing society. She said women delayed telling their employers about pregnancies for fear of losing work.
科迪说：“当女性终于告诉雇主自己怀孕时……她要么会面临绩效管理，要么——如果她处于不稳定的工作状态，而我们知道移民女性和遭受种族主义针对的女性更可能从事不稳定和轮班工作——那么她的班次就会被取消。”
“Frequently, when a woman does tell that she is pregnant … she will experience either performance management, or suddenly – if she’s in insecure work, and we know that migrant women and women targeted by racism are more likely to be an insecure and shift work – then the shifts will dry up,” Cody said.
“第三种情况就是裁员——但这些其实是‘假裁员’。之所以出现这种情况，并非因为岗位不再需要或已被撤销，而是因为雇主不希望那位孕妇继续从事这份工作，因为她即将休产假并离开岗位。”2014年，澳大利亚人权委员会开展的一项全国性调查显示，有49%的母亲表示自己在孕期、休产假期间或重返工作岗位时遭遇过歧视。
“The third thing that happens is redundancies – and they are ‘sham redundancies’. They’re not … because the job is no longer required or has been eliminated within the workplace, it’s because they no longer want that woman working in the job because she’s pregnant and is going to leave.”A 2014 national review by the AHRC found 49% of mothers reported discrimination during pregnancy, parental leave or on their return to work.
科迪指出，歧视现象依然普遍存在，但目前很难判断情况是否有所改善。她表示，该委员会将敦促联邦政府资助开展新一轮调查。
Cody said discrimination remained widespread but it was hard to know whether the situation had improved. The commission would push the federal government to fund another survey, she said.
“育儿组织”的首席执行官乔治·登特今年9月在澳大利亚全国新闻俱乐部上强调，再次开展相关调查至关重要。“这项调查必须重新启动，”她当时说道，“如果我们不再统计相关数据，就根本无法解决问题。”2024年，南澳大利亚大学对1,048名有子女的劳动者进行了调查，结果显示：89%的人称自己在孕期遭遇过歧视，85%的人表示休产假期间也遭受过歧视，更有92%的人称重返工作岗位时遭遇了不公正对待。
The chief executive of the Parenthood, Georgie Dent, told the national press club in September that another survey was critical. “It must be reinstated,” she said at the time. “We can’t fix what we’ve stopped counting.”A 2024 survey of 1,048 parent workers by the University of South Australia found 89% reported discrimination during pregnancy, 85% reported experiencing discrimination while on parental leave and 92% reported discrimination when returning to work.
近年来，向人权委员会提交的投诉数量持续上升：2023年为52起，到2025年已增至71起。科迪称，向公平工作委员会提交的投诉数量更多，但仍有大量父母选择不举报自己遭遇的歧视行为。
The number of complaints to the human rights commission has increased from 52 in 2023 to 71 in 2025. Cody said complaints to the Fair Work Commission were higher but many parents didn’t report discrimination.
“当雇主把解雇员工伪装成裁员时，掌握所有证据、能够证明该岗位是否真的被撤销的其实是雇主一方；可最终承担投诉责任、背负相关负担的却是作为投诉人的女性员工，”科迪说道。
“If you make the loss of a job look like a redundancy, the employer is the one who has all the evidence to show whether or not the job has actually disappeared, and yet it’s the complainant, it’s the woman, who has the responsibility, that burden, of bringing a complaint,” Cody said.
我们了解到，女性在怀孕或分娩期间是一个非常脆弱的时期。于是在这种基础上再告诉她们：“现在你有责任向公平工作委员会或澳大利亚人权委员会提出投诉”，有时候这对她们来说实在是太多了。澳大利亚人权委员会在收到投诉后最多需要一年时间来分配调解员，这意味着存在案件积压。
“We know that when women are having their child, or are pregnant, that’s a really vulnerable time. And so then to put on top of that, ‘Now it’s your responsibility to make a complaint to either the Fair Work Commission or to the Australian Human Rights Commission,’ sometimes that’s just too much.”The AHRC takes up to a year to allocate a conciliator after a complaint is lodged, meaning there is a backlog of cases.
该委员会的报告将于本周发布，报告发现一些父母在孩子出生后被分配了较少的工作职责。另一些人则被安排了更少的班次，或没有发展机会。新父母在申请工作弹性安排和安全的哺乳条件时遇到了困难。
The commission’s report, to be released this week, found some parents were given less responsibility at work after the birth of a child. Others were given fewer shifts or no opportunity for development. New parents faced difficulty asking for flexibility and safe arrangements for breastfeeding.
另一个案例研究中，米歇尔告诉澳大利亚人权委员会，她在要求改为工作更长的班次——而不是多个较短的班次——以照顾她的两个年幼的孩子和患有绝症的父亲后，失去了工作。
Another case study, Michelle, told the AHRC she lost her job after asking to work longer shifts rather than multiple shorter shifts to care for her two young children and terminally ill father.
报告写道：“她的工作单位对她的请求的回应是不再为她提供任何班次，并将她从岗位上解雇。”
“Her workplace responded to her request by no longer offering her any shifts and dismissed her from her role,” the report wrote.
与此同时，艾米丽告诉委员会，尽管她所在的科技初创公司提供了干净、便利且安全的哺乳区，但她在受雇期间被劝阻不要进行哺乳休息。
Meanwhile, Emily told the commission she was discouraged from taking lactation breaks while employed at a tech start-up despite its clean, accessible and secure breastfeeding area.
报告中说：“她被期望连续工作长时间，无法进行哺乳休息。尽管有可用的空间和政策，但她工作场所的文化和态度让艾米丽感到缺乏支持，导致她比自己原本想的更早停止了对孩子的哺乳。”
“She was expected to work uninterrupted, long hours and was unable to take her lactation breaks. Despite the available space and policies, the culture and attitudes in her workplace made Emily feel unsupported and led her to stop breastfeeding her child earlier than she wanted to.”
*人权委员会在其报告中更改了姓名。
*Name changed by human rights commission in its report