maternity

Hanna

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Dealing with a very creepy recruiter who has already made me feel so uncomfortable that I didn’t meet up with him, talking under his breath on the phone to me and telling me I’m amazing in a really weird way when I answer the phone. I sent a list of questions to ask a potential employer and added maternity information to the list. He then asked me if I was pregnant?! Which I have now found out is completely illegal, so I will be writing a huge complaint. I now feel like the employer will think that too, I guess if they do I won’t want to work there anyway. I’m entitled to know about women’s rights in a work place without even wanting to have children if I don’t want to.

Lily

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In a meeting at work I suggested that they may be able to retain staff and attract new staff by offering a maternity package in addition to the statutory pittance they currently allow. Was laughed off and told “we don’t want women to take us for a free ride”…

Lydia

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In the middle of a casual conversation with a fellow professional woman whom I had just met… “And what did you do before you became a mother?” In shock, the best I could manage was “I still do. I am on maternity leave and I will be going back to work.” That was yesterday and I am still incandescent with rage.

L

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I’m a female management consultant in my early 30s. I was in a meeting with another woman, mid-twenties, a man, mid-30s, and a Director, a man in his 50s or so. He started talking about a female client and said “Apparently she had a baby last year, and then took a job where she has to travel every week. Leaving her husband at home with the baby!” I paused, waiting, hoping that the indignation in his voice was for a punch line he had yet to deliver. “Anyway, it’s just odd,” he said. “Is it?” I asked, “Men do that all the time.” “Yeah but that’s different,” was the reply. Our predominantly male leadership wonders what more we can do to retain women after they go on maternity leave. To me it’s no wonder, when they come back to an environment where these types of judgments are being made by their superiors after already having to make a difficult decision to spend some time working away from home.

KateF

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Last week my male boss sat me down to explain his thoughts on my female manager’s replacement as she has resigned. Since she returned to work from maternity leave, things have not been ideal and there is friction between her male maternity cover and the male boss as the maternity cover contract was extended for no apparent reason. The cause is the bromance between boss and manager’s maternity cover. I am good at my job and was led by a very professional supervisor before her leave. So, what happens with her position is very important for my career progression. Not only did the boss explain everything (too much information), bad mouth my manager’s working style, but praised her replacement, I was not only blindsided, but a little shocked. My manager has been asked to make a case for me to take her position, which she has, however the boss decided she was making it personal and it wasn’t a true reflection, which he decided to tell to me, so not only insulting my supervisor, but me at the same time. So he is transparent he also said male colleague should move up in salary, so now not sure what to do with me. Basically he had already decided male colleague would get the position. I got a very poor apology via email the next day, but final outcome pending.