We need every working mom to read it.
Talking about workplace discrimination isn’t easy–but luckily, it’s become less taboo over the years, and one mom’s story is sure to help other working moms fight the stigma.
Oonagh van den Berg, a Hong Kong-based mom of two from Northern Ireland shared her heartbreaking but inspiring story on LinkedIn. It took the mom, the CEO and founder of a global compliance risk community platform, 10 years to share the story in full, but now that she has, we need every working mom to read it.
When she was 29, her female manager told her not to get pregnant or else she “couldn’t do her job.” She was single at the time and didn’t think much of it, and admittedly didn’t think of it as pregnancy discrimination–until she found herself unexpectedly pregnant.
Oonagh said she worked harder than she should’ve, worried that her boss would see her pregnancy as affecting her performance, she told Four Nine. She received a call the week her child was due where she asked about her annual bonus, and her manager told her: “You’re on maternity leave, isn’t that bonus enough?”
The mom was so upset she wasn’t getting her bonus, that her water broke likely due to her overworking, and she didn’t even notice. One emergency C-section later, her daughter was born prematurely but healthy, and Oonagh will “never be able to forgive” her boss “because my daughter nearly died as a result.”
After returning from maternity leave, her job “no longer existed.” A story we’ve heard too many times.
As she struggled to adjust to single motherhood while looking for a job to keep her Visa, she faced mental health issues she feels are due to her previous employer. “If I had the support of my direct management from the beginning, things would have been so different. But I was worried that speaking up would damage my career,” Oonagh told Four Nine. She admits she could’ve filed a discrimination complaint, but didn’t want to limit her career in such a small industry.
Six years later, she was pregnant again, and her doctor told her she “needed to stop working or this baby is going to die.” Her baby was born prematurely and spent the first nine days of her life in the ICU. Ten weeks later–Hong Kong’s total allotted time for maternity leave–Mom returned to her position to run her company’s “most high profile project globally,” which she still doesn’t forgive herself for.
Four years have passed and the mom’s underlying lesson is clear: “Never forget you are not just a $$$.”
“Companies need more education, not just about how women are treated during pregnancy, but afterwards too,” Oonagh told Four Nine. “Are they ready to come back after the fixed amount of time? Many of us aren’t, and we don’t feel like we have a choice–our jobs may not wait for us.” She couldn’t be more right.
Now more than ever, working moms have been put in a bind with juggling child care, keeping our careers afloat somehow, and trying to stay sane. The pandemic has made it crystal clear whether or not employers truly value moms in the workplace, and Oonagh’s words have struck a chord with thousands of LinkedIn users who have commented or shared her now-viral post.
Whether it’s concern over retaliation, a lack of accommodations, or a fear of growing your family hurting your career–know that you have rights at work. You’re not alone, and there’s an army of people ready to help you fight this good fight. It’s about time the workplace catches up to the 21st century.
Career
We need every working mom to read it.
One mom shared her story of pregnancy discrimination at work–and now she’s an advocate for all facing the same struggles.
