When journalist Lillian Richardson told her male boss that she would be having a baby, his response was ‘What bad timing for you, are you going to go through with it?’ He meant it was bad timing for her career – it was not a slip of the tongue, just his view bluntly put
When journalist Lillian Richardson told her male boss that she would be having a baby, his response was ‘What bad timing for you, are you going to go through with it?’ He meant it was bad timing for her career – it was not a slip of the tongue, just his view bluntly put. When she told colleagues her news, they asked whether it was an accident, and no congratulations were given.
Richardson’s work as a journalist became less and less valuable as maternity leave approached and she was handed fewer interesting stories. Training that had previously been encouraged was quietly retracted. A pregnant colleague found the workplace to be equally unfriendly as she was handed the physically hardest jobs, having to trek across town for interviews when she was heavily pregnant. Such subtle discrimination is said to be turning women away from jobs as ‘breeders’, as they are labelled in some workplaces, to focus only on their careers.
Australia’s birth rate has dropped over the last ten years from nearly 1.9 children per woman to 1.7, and commentators argue the reason is our dismissal of motherhood. But if the Government wants more babies to replenish our aging population, they need to think not of the children, but of the mums. As a journalist in The Sydney Morning Herald recently put it, “respect mothers and babies will follow”.
Returning recently from maternity leave, another journalist, Wendy Kromeyer, was forced on occasion to leave work at six to race home and cook dinner, check that homework was done, put children to bed and such. Increasingly, her leaving ‘early’ was met with rolled eyes and complaints by colleagues. Gradually, you begin to wonder whether the career is worth it, says Kromeyer. “It’s a freeze out. Once you’re a breeder, there is no point staying.”Her scenario can be found in many modern workplaces.
Despite the catchcry ‘work/life balance’, and the gradual introduction of equitable policies into some companies, many women are being forced to choose their path – be it children or careers. Employers, as well as employees, need to be aware of the massive and hurtful impact that their attitudes and comments have on those both leaving for and returning from maternity leave.
Kate Gibbs is the editor of Human Resources’sister publication Lawyers Weekly.
