GIVING women a year's maternity leave after the birth of every child is harming their careers, a gender watchdog says.

Employers are having second thoughts in employing women or short-listing them for promotions because of the one-year paid leave, according to Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

Commission chief executive Nicola Brewer told The Times that she will shortly call for a serious re-think of the policy. At present women can avail nine months of paid leave after giving birth to a child.

This will rise to a year by the end of the current session of parliament. Brewer says that calls to the commission's helpline from women who lost their jobs after becoming pregnant suggest that they are paying a heavy price for their new rights.

She says her fears deepened earlier this year when entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar claimed that many employers binned the CVs of women of childbearing age.

Business leaders have criticised the new maternity laws, saying that they are a headache for employers and that it is difficult to plan the workforce if parents go part-time. But this is the first time that criticism has come from an organisation that campaigns on behalf of women.

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