Your article rightly pointed out the problems some women have at work while pregnant (see [2007] Gazette, 20 September, 20). Much progress has been made and the picture is not entirely bleak.


I had a baby during my training contract in 1984 without problems and was recruited by another City firm despite having a one-year-old child. Indeed, the third and last firm I worked for hired me in 1988 when I had two children under four and was five months pregnant. Excellent workers, whatever their gender, colour or sexual orientation, are the people clients and firms want.



There is another problem, which is a more important battle. Only when we stop assuming women mind children and men work, and only when it is as likely that men, as much as women, recruit and hire their children's nannies and share fairly matters domestic (as many couples in 2007 achieve) will parents of both genders achieve their full potential in the workplace.



Giving men six months' paternity leave usually to follow a woman's six months, likely to be in force next year, is the kind of legislative initiative which is helpful for those lucky enough to be able to afford it. However, the best advice for women is simply to ensure they avoid sexist men and ensure equity in their personal relationships such that they are not the fools they often are, overly burdened with all matters domestic.



Susan Singleton, Singletons, Pinner, Middlesex