EXCLUSIVE: Sainsbury’s HR director Imelda Walsh has defended her proposals to extend flexible working laws, after Nicola Brewer, head of the new equalities watchdog, suggested this measure could hamper women’s career prospects.

Last week, Brewer, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said extensions to maternity leave and parents’ rights were sabotaging women’s careers, with employers wary of taking on or hiring women of child-bearing age. Brewer added that of the parents who have made use of the flexible working laws so far, the overwhelming majority are women. She called for the laws to be open to everyone and for the creation of paid parental leave, shared by mothers and fathers.