Earlier this week a Tory MP suggested that Rachel Reeve shouldn’t be considered for a cabinet position after the general election because she’s pregnant. The MP suggested that Reeve wouldn’t have long enough in post before she took maternity leave to do the job properly. It sounds like a comment from another era but as any woman who’s hesitated before telling her boss about her pregnancy knows, there are still too many ingrained beliefs around women and babies.
From the belief that a woman stops being interested in her career, to the fear that she’ll be sidelined when she returns, the fear that both employers and employees feel around maternity leave are turning it from an opportunity to a nightmare. Maternity and work specialist, Lisa Barnwell, believes that these fears actually stop us from using maternity to its full potential.
“New mothers,” she says, “develop a softer power that they come to realize is equally affective when it comes to running a business. They are more tuned in to their intuition. Each day they balance both feminine and masculine thinking, and in doing so they bring a veritable power house of talent and skill back to the workplace with them. Parenthood makes them capable of staying calm under immense pressure, teaches them not to sweat the small stuff and gives them the ability to multi-task like a ninja”.
She also believes that the current culture which sees women working up to nearly their due date doesn’t give them the time to properly prepare for the birth, nor to tap into some of the new feelings and learnings of their pregnancy.
“The pregnancy journey and experiences gained as a mother offer a form of growth that complements professional experience. We need to value and support this, not penalize against or disregard”.
Today we’re asking you to share your experiences and questions around maternity leave and pregnancy at work. Have you been through it and have some wisdom share? Or are you at that stage now and in need of some advice? Barnwell will also be online from 12pm to answer any questions and share her top tips. Join us from midday on Thursday 26th February to discuss:
- How to manage working while pregnant.
- How to talk to your boss about your maternity leave and what you want on your return.
- How to best prepare for maternity leave.
- How do we make it better for employers?
- What should we change about maternity leave to make it better for everyone?
