調查：生育成女性求職禁忌話題

What would you ask potential employers about in a job interview? Your salary, holiday allowance, pension plan or healthcare benefits, perhaps. But would you ask about the company's maternity package?

For almost four out of five women the answer to that questions is 'no'. The overwhelming majority of women feel that any reference to harbouring a working uterus could jeopardise their chances of landing the role.

The survey carried out by Glassdoor, an online jobs and careers community, polled 1,000 working women in the UK - 500 of whom have already taken maternity leave and 500 whom plan to do so in the future.

Why do women keep schtum on the topic of maternity benefits? Half said they would be scared potential employers would assume they are already pregnant.

Perhaps more worrying though, one in five women feared they would not be taken seriously by employers if they mentioned the 'm' word, almost a third (31 per cent) felt it would hinder their career progression even if they did land the role and 15 per cent felt it would stop them getting a fair salary.

Speaking to MailOnline about the study, employment relations minister Jo Swinson said: 'Pregnancy discrimination is unacceptable and illegal. Women deserve the right to pursue their goals and not feel they have to choose between having a successful career or having a baby.'

The survey also highlighted that women's reticence to make reference to maternity benefits doesn't end when they're in a job.

Twenty two per cent would wait until they had passed their probation period to ask their line manager about their maternity rights.

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) would avoid discussing it with their boss altogether and opt to discuss it with a trusted colleague instead.

Why the need for detective work? The poll found that information about maternity leave is not easy to come by for female employees.

Nearly two in five (39 per cent) of those polled felt the information was difficult to find with 13 per cent saying it was downright impossible, claiming details of maternity benefits were not made available to employees at all, unless specifically requested.

Only 32 per cent of female employees were given information about maternity benefits when they started their current job.

The survey also found that 42 percent of female employees would only ask their employer about maternity benefits if they were announcing a pregnancy.

The reasons ranged from being worried employers would think they were already pregnant (43 percent), worrying it would be perceived that they were trying to get pregnant (37 percent) and feeling it was 'not professional' (30 per cent).

Most alarmingly though, more than one in five (22 per cent) feared they would be putting themselves at risk of redundancy by asking questions on the taboo topic.

So what do women feel can be done? Half said it should be compulsory for all organisations to have a transparent benefits package from the start of the recruitment process.

Women also felt that businesses with a competitive package should actively use it as a marketing tool to attract top female talent.

A spokesperson for Glassdoor, who recently added an anonymous benefits review service to their site, making it easier to compare packages and perks of potential employers, said: 'There are more than 13 million women in the workplace and amongst these more than 5 million are working mums.

'These women are an important part of UK businesses so it seems pretty short sighted to keep maternity benefit details under lock and key.

'A more honest and open attitude towards maternity benefits could improve the quality of candidates.

'It may not be an intentional decision for employers to keep this information from female employees, however forcing them to ask for it is clearly causing a great deal of distress for many women in the workplace. Transparency around benefits can actually build greater trust.'