I was working as an Account Director in the Sales Department of a large Telecoms company. I had been there for over 10 years when I fell pregnant with my first child. I was known for being a real career woman and one recognised as successfully operating in a male-dominated world and I was proud of it (I was 38 when I had my first child). As soon as I announced I was pregnant things began to change until I was virtually written off – I wasn’t even invited to my own customers’ meetings that were set up by colleagues – both peers and management. I arranged a meeting with HR and my managers to discuss it but it was a whitewash and they actually used comments like “we didn’t invite you because the subject was tough and we didn’t want to get you upset”. In the end I swallowed it down and went on maternity leave as I decided I didn’t need the stress and then later I returned to full time work there for a few months (to far less impressive accounts) before I took voluntary redundancy when I got pregnant with my second child (well a compromise agreement obviously!). I couldn’t believe that practically overnight my whole image at work changed… wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself…