Hellobee Boards

I was a vp for a fortune 500 company. I was the only female for miles and the youngest in an exec position by 20 years or so. There is lot of teasing that went on in the company that I worked for and every time they felt as though my "female" bitchiness was coming out there would be references regarding my hormones, please understand that this did not bother me, and I did not feel sexually harassed in anyway, a couple times jokes about me being pregnant would come up. As soon as we got married it became a great concern. When big projects would start I would be asked whether I was planning a pregnancy. It did change the way the men interacted with me.

Oh yeah, been told to my face by a trader that women should not be hired because they need maternity leave.

The finance industry doesn't care that you just had a baby. I have found very little leeway and have had to really take a massive step down in order to work less hours since having my LO. But I would rather be able to spend time with my daughter vs having a nanny put her to bed every night.

I work in finance and hold a pretty senior position. Not only is finance male dominated, but my specialty is also hugely male dominated, so when I go to speak to clients Im almost always the only woman.

Admittedly, it was a but difficult. I felt like I lost my identity a little bit. Before I was pregnant, I was the chick who knew my sh*t in my field. People asked about my background and we talked business almost 100% of the time. When I started unquestionably showing, around 7 months, it was like that was all they could talk about was the baby. It was actually pretty endearing to see these high powered finance guys talk about remembering their wives being pregnant and telling stories about kids.

HOWEVER-rumors might fly. I told my boss first, then I told senior management (CEO, CFO) when I was about 20 weeks to assure them I would be back, and that if they heard otherwise it was a rumor. Sure enough, the day I told one person (who told everoyne else. I did that on purpose) people immediately came to me and speculated that I wasnt coming back. One manager even told me "yeah, my wife said the same thing, but when it came time to go back she couldnt." So some of them had no faith that Id return.

The way I handled it was 1-stay ahead of the rumor mill, bc thats huge. I waited so long to tell them bc I wanted to prove to them that I was able to work exactly the same while pregnant...and I had been for 20 weeks. I had to fake a few nights out drinking, but I got the bartenders in on that. and 2-own it. Dont be ashamed to be pregnant. When people started talking about that for a little too long in the conversation, Id turn it back to business. Just let them know that you CAN still perform your job duties and carry on intellegent conversation.

I left my last company because of my commute and because of the old boys club mentality. They hired another woman to take my place and that is still the only woman in that department. I now work for a company where I am one of two women. It's a family friendly environment and i am not afraid to let them know I'm expecting. Of course I'll probably tell just my boss and ask him not to say anything. I figure everyone else can figure it out.

I work in the legal field - while there are definitely a lot more women than in other industries such as finance, I will say that there is still stupidity abound when it comes to women and having children. My boss immediately asked me if I plan on coming back to work after having the baby (employers are not allowed to ask this question), he hasn't understood why there are so many doctors appointments involved in having a baby, does not understand that I won't be on email while at the hospital having the baby, etc.