Does having a baby make women better leaders? Or is it the greatest barrier to gender equality?

In a feminism class during my Politics degree, I remember our lecturer explaining once  that there are two feminist view of pregnancy: one is that it is the ability to give birth that is the source of all of women’s power. The other that it is our Achilles heel; the factor that means we will never achieve equality with men.

The first rings true: there is something startlingly empowering about being pregnant. You become slightly mystical and remote. Others treat you differently. In every country I visit pregnancy has a special status: like marriage, it is universally celebrated. And the cocoon I have with my baby gives me distance; more perspective perhaps. As long as the baby and I are OK, it doesn’t seem to matter very much what anyone else thinks or does. I find myself more decisive, more sure and certainly a more confident leader. I am far less intimated by the wisdom and experience of others. Carrying a child immediately denotes that you are an adult and should be taken seriously.

But I can’t help feeling that the other viewpoint is also valid.  In the workplace you are aware (and others allude to the fact) that you are a declining asset.  Some are unafraid to suggest you are a drain on the business; others are afraid to say so but fail to conceal that they think it. Your time is limited before your maternity leave. And no one is sure what will happen afterwards; will you be back, and when?  You could become irrelevant or, at least, less relevant than now.

Perhaps I should write to my lecturer and tell her that, in my experience to date, the feminists are all right.

Except the one who confidently predicted that in ten or fifteen years (i.e. now), everyone would have their babies in the equivalent of fish tanks to avoid the downsides of childbirth.  Not that this is an idea without merits.