So today I was going through the bit of mail that had accumulated for me at work since last Thursday. Among the usual requests for money, there was an invitation.
"For me?" was my first thought. I'm still trying to get my name out there so I don't get invited to too many events yet. My second thought was, "They spelled my name right!" Then I looked at the map they had printed on the invite and noticed that they spelled the name of a fairly well-known downtown street in Calgary wrong, and the name of a nearby building was incorrect, and right then and there I told my assistant that I wasn't going.
Not that it was a prized invite or anything - it was a presentation from some wealth managers about why I should tell my clients to invest with them - but still. When the Google map says "Stephen Avenue Mall" and you change it to "Steven Avenue Mall"? FAIL.
But the truth is, at this stage of my pregnancy I'm reluctant to go anywhere to try to form new business relationships. I have this feeling that no one will want to invest any time in talking to me because I'm obviously going to be on leave soon. What would be the point?
Really, it's sad that these are considerations for me at all, and maybe I'm thinking about it a bit too much, but it seems that there is still such a taboo around pregnant women in the workplace, particularly in my profession. As my belly gets larger, I get more self-conscious, like I really want my clients to know that I can still do my job. Paranoid? Maybe. But for now I'll still look to silly technicalities to get me out of finding out the truth.
(On a totally unrelated note, today The Globe and Mail had an article on the proposal that Ontario cover up to three cycles of IVF for patients under the age of 42. There was a lot of chatter in the comments section about how this proposal will result in a huge number of couples "choosing" IVF simply because it's covered by the government. Seriously, if any of those people want to "choose" to go through the indignity that is IVF, then they can have at 'er. The ignorance is overwhelming. I would link to the article but I'm having issues with that right now.)
3 comments:
Pretty sure that the "natural" form of getting pregnant is a lot more fun.
Although I'm having a strange flashback to the movie "Demolition Man" :)
You're right, there is still a taboo around pregnant women in the workplace, including the legal profession, but it's changing.
How do you deal with it? Knock them over with your confidence--confidence in your slash identity wife/mom/lawyer..., confidence in your legal and networking skills, confidence in knowing it's your life and you call the shots, pregnant (lawyer) or not.
I think that part of the issue is that a lot of people (i.e. men) define themselves as Lawyers first, everything else second, or third. The justification is that it takes that kind of focus to really succeed at law. I would respectfully disagree. Being a lawyer is part of who I am, but it is by no means all of who I am. I think that as more women my age start families, and as more male lawyers of my generation start taking parental leaves to be with their families more (and I know a few of those), hopefully this dynamic will change.
Thanks for the advice Julie!
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