Pregnant Women at Work

By Petia Dimitrova | May 23, 2014 05:38 PM EDT

TEXT SIZE    

Interviewing for a job while you are pregnant is nothing new. More and more women decide to become moms despite their highly-stressful roles as executives and heads of departments. For example, the case with Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer has proven it that women in the workforce can afford a pregnancy. 

The Yahoo CEO was in fact appointed as an executive when she was 6 months pregnant and that did not prevent her from accepting the role

"I think what you may be seeing is more women who are daring to have children while employed in the higher-level jobs like consulting, law, medicine, finance, and the like," says Victoria Pynchon, co-founder of She Negotiates, a company that focuses on advices and strategies for women in the work force.

"Many women of [the 1980s and 1990s] generation delayed our childbearing years because those who came before told us not to have children until we 'made partner' or the equivalent in academics, medicine, or business," she has explained.

While there are numerous women who are pregnant while they search for work,  the question is if they should tell employers about their situation?

While Donovan typically doesn't recommend disclosing your pregnancy during the interview process - rather, she suggests waiting until you start your job - she does recognize the need to share the news in certain circumstances.

"If your pregnancy would impact your ability to do the job, then you would need to speak up," Donovan Katie Donovan, a salary negotiation consultant and founder of  Equal Pay Negotiation advises.  She does not advice women to disclose their pregnancy during an interview. Instead, pregnant women should start their job and then speak about their pregnancy issues with their employer.

pre post  |  next post
More Sections