She's called in to the office to meet with her manager.
She has no idea what she's done or why he wants to see her but she waits patiently while he makes his point. He adopts a caring tone, asking how she is feeling and whether her workload is too much but his tone seems condescending rather than compassionate.
He says he has a couple of concerns related to her performance. Even though she works out of a home office, he wonders why she doesn't come in to the office every day, and earlier in the morning, and wonders why she doesn't stay until the team leaves at night.
She says that she works from home so that is her base and she prefers to come in when the traffic has died down at 9am rather than 8. This seems reasonable enough and he looks down at his notes, nodding to himself, although it's plain to see that he doesn't agree with a word she's just said.
He asks how she is handling her work generally and she says it is fine. She enjoys the tasks and the challenges. He asks why then are her reports always an hour late on Mondays and why doesn't she respond to his phone calls within a fifteen-minute timeframe. She has no answer other than to suggest whether it's an issue to call back thirty minutes later, rather than fifteen.
She's starting to feel quite anxious, worried that her responses to his questions aren't good enough. She's on edge and it's as if she has something to hide. The way in which he questions her makes this feel like an interrogation, not a catch-up, and she scrambles in her mind to understand what the problem is and why he isn't satisfied with the answers she has given.
He queries a particular call she didn't immediately respond to and then she slips up.
Photo credit: Cat Sidh (Flickr Creative Commons)
I didn't call you back right away yesterday because I was collecting my son from daycare, she says. He looks up and smiles at her knowingly. She realises something has been confirmed in his mind but she still doesn't expect what happens next.
How are you handling full-time work now you have a baby, he asks. It seems to me that you probably came back to the workplace too early, he continues. I get the sense that you're struggling to manage your work with your duties as a mother, he ends. Satisfied, he sits back and watches her face for a reaction.
She sits there dumbfounded.
She runs through it all in her mind. She works five days a week. She gets her work done on time albeit not always within his strict timeframes. She drops her son off at daycare then starts her work at 9am, often finishing in the early evening and rushing back home to make sure she doesn't miss his bedtime bath and evening stories.
If she stops working in the daytime for reasons related to her son, she makes sure she catches up in the evening when he is asleep. She travels regularly with work - almost too regularly given her circumstances - and never complains to her manager about the time away from her son or the burden this places on her husband.
She realises this is the way it has been since she decided to start a family in Australia. She has always been fearful of revealing her plans to have a child. She was ever nervous about mentioning her pregnancy and, when she did, she was told there would be no maternity leave provisions or flexible arrangements made for her.
When she did reveal her 'situation', the manager was disappointed and did not bother to hide his displeasure or irritation - in effect, he was immediately a worker down. Upon her return to the workplace only five months after the baby's birth, she was expected to rejoin the workforce with no excuses or complaints, and full commitment and dedication to the role, whenever he needed her.
And now she sits here with her manager, bemoaning her work ethic and demeaning her parental situation.
Then the final nail in the coffin.
He asks how her little friend from the office is getting on. You know, the other girly that disappeared from the office to have a kid or something.
If only the story was unique in Australia to this one woman.
But it isn't.
Archaic attitudes
It's commonplace across Australia.
If I'm honest, the attitudes to women in the workplace relating to pregnancy and maternity stink. They really do.
According to Australia's workplace watchdog, the Fair Work Ombudsman, pregnancy discrimination is now the number one complaint against the country's employers and it comes as no surprise to me.
Stinking attitudes have been a common theme for me since arriving in Australia many moons ago. From immigration to the environment, science to education, the views of certain elements of the Australian population can leave a distinctly bad taste in the mouth.
I'm not sure whether distance and isolation has led to a sense of detachment from other more progressive nations and a feeling that "what works best for us here in Australia is all that matters". I'm fairly certain the macho culture plays a large part in determining who does what and how.
All that really matters is that some attitudes here are archaic and completely out of step with the rest of the world.
Treated differently
When it comes to motherhood and women in general, far too many employers have out-of-touch perceptions about females and a lack of desire to create more flexible work environments for mothers (and fathers), whatever stage of parenting they may be at.
According to the Ombudsman's figures, a decent proportion of women feel their family or carer responsibilities result in them being treated differently in the workplace.
Under Australian workplace laws and standards, employers are not allowed to make women feel uncomfortable for being pregnant or returning to work and seeking flexible work arrangements. In fact, employers need to make sure that work is modified to suit the woman's situation.
However, it's clear that these laws are being ignored.
While there are Australian employers who offer bonuses and subsidies to help out with childcare and returning to work, a large number are promoting what the rest of us refuse to accept - that archaic attitudes to women in the workplace are okay in the modern Australian workplace.
This ties in with broader studies into the views of Australian communities that show a movement towards more conservative, not liberal, attitudes towards women in the workplace.
In other words, people in the land down under are moving towards the view that a working mother is less effective at doing both jobs - being a mom and having a career - than a woman who stays at home and cares for her child full-time. Incidentally, the notion of the man being the main breadwinner has gained ground in this country.
Look around the Northern Beaches where I live and spot the high numbers of women at home full-time and the lack of childcare facilities for working mothers, and you start to wonder if there's an underlying backlash against the working mom.
I have nothing against the 'stay-at-home' mom but I do have a problem if it's because local attitudes dictate this is where she should be.
Workplace realities
I'm used to hearing arguments about the impacts of pregnant women and maternity leave on small businesses and employers. My response is to "get over it".
Women and men choose to start families. Women fall pregnant and have kids. These same women can also contribute to the workforce and provide valuable skills and experience, co-creating a strong, balanced, high-performing economy.
Whether the attitudes here towards women date back to the 1950s or to Australia's ongoing refusal to join the modern, flexible working world, who knows, but it's seriously time for this country to move forward.
A major change in attitudes towards flexible work is vital. For many employers, working part-time is still seen as something women do when they've had their babies before eventually returning to the full-time ranks. Part-time work isn't taken seriously and is seen as not suiting someone committed to their career.
As a result, women are scared of working flexibly - or even asking the question - because they don't want to be known as the 'part-timer'.
Pregnancy and parenting discrimination is still alive and kicking in the Aussie workplace, and it's obvious to me that attitudes to women here need to progress. If not, women will continue to be discriminated against because they fall pregnant and have children.
And more and more women will avoid asking for flexibility or consideration of their situation for fear of reprisal or lack of remorse.
People like the woman in this story who, by the way, is my wife.
What's your view on attitudes to women in the workplace, particularly in Australia? Have you experienced this? Do you think attitudes need to change?
Do share below.
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