Working mothers: Case studies

Despite the clear provisions of the law, thousands of women still suffer discriminatory treatment when they are pregnant. The Equal Opportunities Commission has launched a campaign that calls for urgent action to gauge the depth of pregnancy discrimination in the UK and end unlawful treatment of working mothers. The commission is calling for two main changes to help employers and employees manage pregnancy at work more effectively. It is urging the government to provide a written statement of maternity rights and employer responsibilities to every pregnant woman. And it recommends giving employers a 'right to request', that employees indicate their planned return date much earlier during maternity leave than they have to at present.

The commission's drive is prompted by a new study that quantified, for the first time, the number of pregnant women and new mothers experiencing discrimination in workplaces across the country. It surveyed more than 1,000 women who had recently given birth and continued to work during their pregnancy and also interviewed a further 1,006 women with a child aged between 9 months and 2 years who were in full time employment during their pregnancy. Overall, almost half the respondents said that they experienced some form of victimisation relating to their pregnancy. A fifth said they lost out financially due to discrimination, and one in 20 were put under pressure to quit after they announced impending motherhood.

Despite this, many working mothers encounter few problems and have supportive employers. Here, three women with successful careers share their positive and negative experiences:

Charlotte is a school teacher. Her first baby is now four months old.

'When I announced my pregnancy, I encountered a variety of responses from work colleagues - mostly positive. When I found out that I was pregnant I had just been promoted. Although I had applied for and gained the promotion before I knew I was pregnant the official confirmation came through some time after I had told my headteacher about my pregnancy. She rang my department to tell me that I would be on a higher grade from the following month which would coincide with the start of my year's maternity leave. The first thing she said was 'I'm not sure you deserve this, but.....'. As a spinster with no children, her work is her life. I jokingly pointed out to her that as a teacher if nobody had children she wouldn't have a job. She herself may have been joking of course, but it was a fairly unnecessary comment to make.

My deputy was very negative about my pregnancy. He is a married father with two children whose wife doesn't work. At one stage a rumour reached me that he had told one of my A level pupils that he had advised the school not to employ me when I was interviewed because he knew that I would get pregnant. He also constantly questioned me about whether I intended to return to work or not.

I wasn't overlooked in projects or promotion because as a teacher you are somewhat in control of this type of thing. However, these two incidents did make me realise just how negatively people can react to a pregnant women. Prior to getting pregnant, I didn't believe that this type of behaviour could exist or more importantly that people could get away with it. In terms of scans and sickness, I had excellent support. Health and safety issues within the workplace were fully implemented. For example if any pupils had chicken pox etc, I was always informed immediately. However, I would say that no concessions were made. When 35 weeks pregnant I was still appearing on the teaching cover list - sometimes on the opposite side of the school site. Lessons run back to back and sometimes physically managing to walk across the site in time to start a lesson could be quite difficult. At one point I was even down to cover a PE lesson.

I am due to return to work full time later this year. Parents and pupils made interesting comments suggesting that I would not come back, including 'jokes' about abandoning them before exams but it is hard not to take comments to heart when you are pregnant. However, I am looking forward to returning to work.'

Josette is a senior executive in a large international company. Her twins, Harry and Sophie, are 18 months old.

'My experience was predominantly positive. I had six months maternity leave on full pay which is excellent and I have not heard of many other companies doing this. I then took six months unpaid leave. This gave me a full year off plus I accrued all my holiday so I could have added 8 weeks to that in holiday had I wanted to - I chose to have half of it paid and this was when I went back in June and our holiday year runs to end December, so I was pretty spoilt all in all.

As I had IVF treatment I was lucky to have an ally in my manager who was incredibly supportive and almost as excited as I was when the treatment worked. Telling her about my IVF at an early stage meant we could work well as a team to cover any ante-natal absences. It's impossible to know whether things would have been different if my manager had been a man.

As I wanted a three day week when I returned to work I am, in effect, doing a lower grade job than before but I think most mums, given the flexibility of the employer, will be (have to be) pretty flexible themselves. Most of my colleagues are very supportive and I think most of the pressure I feel now comes from me! My company takes its responsibilities seriously and I doubt whether people would voice any irritation over 'working mums' even if they felt it.

I did take time to settle back in and my confidence was not 100% at first but I think that affects a lot of mums. Lack of sleep and trying to juggle it all takes it toll but I seem to be on a more even keel now.'

Clare, a US doctor, is the mother of Lily, 2 and James, 6 months