Phillips told not to apply for job 'as she was pregnant'

Jess Phillips has revealed she was told not to apply for a job because she was pregnant.

- TARA COBHAM

Speaking to The Independent for International Women's Day (IWD), the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley opened up about her experiences of being discriminated against as a woman, as she called for action to be taken to push for gender equality.

The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said: “I have definitely been discriminated against. I have not been able to continue to go through a job application because I was pregnant – I was asked not to come back.

“I was told on one occasion that I had to be judged by my parents’ income about whether I could get student finance, even though I had a baby of my own, because I wasn’t married to my husband – so I was owned by my parents because my husband didn’t yet own me. Those are both state institutions that have discriminated against me.”