Men and women are equal in the workplace, until they aren't

FOR most of my 20s, my gender rarely mattered in the workplace. I received raises and promotions that kept pace with my performance, alongside my male peers. Yes, there were the odd comments that cleaved to gender stereotypes; but I swatted those away like flies.

With childbirth, my complacency was shaken. For the first time, my gender verged on a liability. It wasn't my employers' fault: they were supportive, and accommodating. It was my life - my body, my responsibilities, and the expectations placed on me - that was now profoundly different.

Pregnancy, firstly, served me a biological reality check. There were fatigue, aches and pains, episodes of bleeding, and unfamiliar physical changes. I developed conditions I never dreamt could be associated with pregnancy: like de Quervain's tenosynovitis, a painful wrist condition which made it difficult to type.