Mum's the Word

Following on from my previous post about things in life coming together...sometimes, when everything seems to be aligned a wheel falls off the wagon. At the moment that wheel is my career.

Being made redundant, as many people will have experienced (and many more will experience apparently, as the job market continues to change), is a kick in the teeth to say the least. The effect of it is only really starting to sink in for me now, three months down the road.

At first I was fuelled by disbelief and anger about the situation. I was also confident that I would easily move on and leave the experience behind me. But then I found out I was pregnant and finding a new job suddenly felt a lot trickier. It's a crying shame that pregnant people are still clearly disadvantaged when it comes to finding employment because discrimination remains rife (regardless of employment laws that are meant to protect against it).

Lesson learnt - do not seek advice from Google when wondering how to find a job when pregnant! Forums are full of people shaming those looking for jobs whilst pregnant, especially if they plan to tell potential employers that they're expecting a baby only once they are offered the role. They are labelled dishonest and manipulative, but what is the alternative? Its clearly a feminist issue that a whole section of society is at once being discriminated against for being pregnant, and also reviled for choosing to exercise their right to hold the information back until it's necessary to reveal it.

Unfortunately the stigma around looking for work whilst pregnant is not an easy one to shake off. I have stopped looking for permanent positions because I feel it would be too much of an inconvenience to a company to take me on now, only to have to recruit again in six month's time. I've heard one or two rare stories where a company took on a pregnant person relatively close to their due date and happily waited for them to get back after maternity leave, finding a replacement to cover them in the mean time. That is the dream, but the alternative (a company taking you on and then feeling duped and angry that you'll be leaving again soon) is too stressful to contemplate!

Obviously, pregnant people are just as capable as they've ever been to do a good job and bring a company a lot of benefits. I wish I wasn't affected by the potential for people to think less of me (if they thought less of me for being pregnant, I certainly wouldn't want to work for them!) but these pernicious cultural stigmas are truly debilitating.

One of the (many) gifts my Mum has given me is a sense of my own self-worth and a confidence in my abilities. I know I am capable of doing a brilliant job in a new company, but I am still getting to grips with asserting my place in employment as a pregnant woman. Being out of work for a while has taken a toll on my confidence, and adding a brand new, life-altering experience like being pregnant into the equation is a heady mix!

Finding rewarding work obviously isn't just about the money. I want to be out and DOING. I get bored easily when I'm home alone and I still have six months to work (just). I am really grateful to have been able to have this time so far to a) rest when the first trimester sickness was at its worst b) get to grips with plans for parenthood (planning for a baby seems like a new job in itself) but now I'm ready for a new challenge and to shake off the residual negativity around the redundancy.

Anyone out there been through the rigmarole of finding a job whilst pregnant!? Please do comment and let me know your experience.