Although federal law prohibitsemployers from demoting or firing women due to pregnancy,allegations of such conduct are common. (Photo:Shutterstock)

The push for paid maternity leave has traditionally beencast as a way to support women's ability to raise families andpursue careers. But even the most generous maternity leave policiesdon't completely eliminate the challenge that motherhood poses to awoman's career. In some cases, they may evenexacerbate them.

In Denmark, for instance, research shows that women's earningsmatch men up until childbirth, after which a sharp disparityemerges. The country's current leave policy provides mothers with18 weeks of paid leave and fathers with two weeks of paid leaveafter the birth of a child. Parents are allowed to split theremaining 32 weeks of paid leave as they wish. In the greatmajority of families, it's the mother who takes most of thatleave.

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The more leave that women take, either due to policies ortradition, the greater the risk that employers will avoid puttingwomen in leadership positions. Women also fall behind simply bybeing out of the office for such a long period of time.

Norway has sought to combat that problem by mandating thatfamilies split parental leave between mothers and fathers.Meanwhile, in the U.S., more and more companies have begun to offergender-neutral parental leave.

Although federal law prohibits employers from demoting or firingwomen due to pregnancy, allegations of such conduct are common. TheEqual Employment Opportunity Commission has filed 148 lawsuitsagainst employers relating to pregnancy bias in the past decade. Inmost cases, the suit alleges a woman was fired after disclosing apregnancy.

Earlier this year a sales executive with BMF Media Group suedher employer, claiming that her pregnancy prompted the company towithdraw a recent promotion. The suit was settled and neither sidewould respond to questions from the Wall Street Journal.

Some employers, however, are encouraging pregnant women to moveup in the ranks. Etsy says that it has hired or promoted 40pregnant women since 2013. The Journal reports that IBM executiveAlarice Lonergan received a promotion in 2015 shortly before givingbirth and that she was promoted again to partner in 2018 beforeanother birth. In both instances, Lonergran took more than threemonths of paid leave.

Read more: 

• JPMorgan settles parental leave discrimination suitfor record $5 million
• 10 ways employers are becoming morefamily-friendly
• Employer in court over FMLA, maternity leavemisunderstanding