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.'

在面试中你会问潜在雇主什么问题呢?或许是你的薪水、假日津贴、养老金计划、医疗保险，但你会问及公司的产假方案吗?

几乎80%的女性都会回答“不会”。绝大多数女性认为任何涉及怀孕的事都可能降低他们应聘成功的可能性。

网上求职择业社区Glassdoor对在英国工作的1000名女性进行了调查。其中，500名女性已经休过产假，另外500名计划今后休产假。

为什么女性会对孕期福利话题避而不谈呢?一半的人说她们害怕潜在雇主会猜测她们已经怀孕。

五分之一的女性害怕提及“怀孕”类字眼，雇主会不那么认真考虑雇佣她们。尽管这样，或许还有令她们更担心的事。三分之一(31%)女性认为即使她们得到工作机会，这也会阻碍她们事业发展;15%的人认为这会使她们不能得到优厚的薪水。

雇佣关系部长乔·斯文森(Jo Swinson)告诉每日邮报(MailOnline)，“对怀孕进行歧视的做法难以令人接受，这也是不合法的。女性有权追求她们的目标，有权不在成功的事业和生孩子二者上做抉择。”

调查同时强调，即使工作了，女性仍然会对提及孕期福利有所顾虑。

22%的人会等到度过试用期后再询问部门经理她们所享有的孕期权利。

近四分之一(23%)的人会回避与老板在一起时谈及此话题，她们更愿意选择一位值得信任的同事进行讨论。

为什么需要事先打探一下呢?调查发现，对女性雇员来说女性产假信息获取不易。

近五分之二(39%)的被调查者感到很难获取信息;13%的人表示根本无法获取，她们说除非特别要求，孕期福利的细节雇员根本不可能得知。

在她们开始目前的工作时，只有32%的女性雇员被告知孕期福利信息。

调查还显示，42%的女性雇员说，只有在她们真正怀孕时，她们才会询问雇主孕期福利问题。

理由有多种：43%的人担心雇主会认为她们已经怀孕，37%的人担心这会被理解为她们试图怀孕，30%的人觉得这会人感到她们“不专业”。

但最令人担忧的是，超过五分之一(22%)的人担心问及这个禁忌的话题，她们可能将自己置于被裁员的风险下。

那么，女性认为该采取什么措施呢?一半的人建议，在招聘程序开始时，所有机构都应该提供一套透明的福利措施。这应该成为一种义务。

女性也认为那些有这套具有竞争力的措施的企业应该将它作为一种市场工具，积极利用，以吸引顶级的女性人才。

最近，Glassdoor在其网页上添加了一项匿名的福利评估服务，以便更方便地比较潜在顾主的各种措施与额外津贴。该网站一位发言人说，“超过1300万的女性投身工作市场，而她们中超过500万的人是职业妈妈。”

“这些女性是英国企业中的一个重要部分，因此将孕期福利细节藏着掖着的做法似乎相当的鼠目寸光。”

“采取更加诚实公开的态度对待孕期福利问题能够提升求职者的质量。”

“或许雇主们不是刻意向女性雇员保留这些信息，但是迫使她们自己去咨询确实会给许多职业女性造成很到压力。福利措施的透明能切实增加更多的信任。”