PREGNANCY, WORK AND WOMENS WELL-BEING - A REVIEW

Pregnancy is potentially a stressful period for working women for ergo nomic, psychological and organizational reasons, yet the well-being of women is seldom the focus of research on working during pregnancy. Th is paper reviews the literature on women's experience of being pregnan t at work. It concludes that, while working conditions are usually not well suited to pregnant women, the majority of women encounter only m inor difficulties and regard working in a positive way. However, for a minority of women working during pregnancy adversely affects their we ll-being. These are likely to be women who are most at risk from work- related stress at other times. The literature suggests that working du ring pregnancy has still to be accepted and accommodated by employers and colleagues.