Motherhood can be very difficult to reconcile with work in geeky fields such as the Technology industry or with attendance at events such as Technical conferences or Science Fiction conventions.
Issues
- Women may suffer hiring discrimination if they are mothers, or are likely to become mothers
- Women who take breaks from work to have babies may fall behind in their technical skills
- The childcare workload falls disproportionately on women, giving them less time for geeky activities ranging from late-night hacking to attending conferences
Incidents
- Conference participant Amy Muller refused entry to Web 2.0 Expo] in 2007 when carrying a 4 month old baby
Other reading
Take this pager and shove it, a classic resignation letter/Usenet post by Abby Franquemont, who quit the tech industry entirely after her maternity leave.
- "I recognize that I was the first pregnant contractor in
Taos' employ, and that I should have expected a few hitches here and there as things got figured out. And I did. But I also expected Taos to work with me, a committed employee with considerable skills and a good reputation in her own right, as evidenced by the fact that I never went to an assignment where I didn't already know someone, or by the fact that a recruiter at a large system administration conference spoke with dozens of people who said, "Hey, I know someone who works for Taos," and mentioned my name. What I didn't expect was for Taos to fight me every step of the way, making every tiny thing about ten times the hassle it needed to be. I didn't expect misinformation about my legal rights, or misrepresentation of Taos' obligations under federal and state law. I never expected to be receiving my first check for meager disability insurance only after my disability was over, thanks to Taos' ineptitude with their books. I expected the same good faith back that I gave, and that's not what happened. In retrospect, I probably should have quit in about October and spared myself the misery of trying to keep dealing with Taos."