Giving women a year off work after the birth of each child something soon to be paid throughout in Britain is making employers think twice before offering a job or promotion, Nicola Brewer believes.

The chief executive of Britain's Equalities and Human Rights Commission told The Times there was a strong argument to rethink family policy.

Ms Brewer said generous maternity benefits had entrenched the assumption that only mothers brought up children.

Such benefits had also failed to hasten a social revolution where both parents were equally responsible for caring for their family, The Times cited her as saying.

In Britain, fathers are entitled to two weeks' leave, compared with 52 for mothers. Maternity leave currently stands at nine months of paid leave, but that will soon rise to a full year.

Ms Brewer said the commission's helpline had been contacted by women who had lost their jobs after falling pregnant and blamed the new rights for their situations.

Business leaders have criticised the new maternity laws, saying they create problems for workforce planning, and earlier this year entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar said many employers tossed out the CVs of women of child-bearing age, The Times report said.

But Ms Brewer's comments mark the first time that similar concerns have been raised by an organisation that acts as an advocate for women.

She warned that plans for additional parental rights could further hinder women particularly a plan to extend the right to request flexible working hours until children are 16. AAP