Does pregnancy harm a woman's career?

A majority of working women believe that raising a family harmed their careers and interfered in climbing up the corporate ladder, according to a new survey. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

The Australian survey, carried out by CareerOne involving 1,467 women showed that two-thirds of working women believe pregnancy would negatively impact their career while 75 percent thought raising a family while in a senior level role would be difficult.

Federal MP Bronwyn Bishop told the CareerOne Women's Forum that working mothers still face a challenge to reach their full career potential.

"All the evidence I took in at that inquiry shows that once you have a child your career plateaus," the Daily Telegraph quoted Bishop as saying.

"In the back of the mind is, 'Well if she's got children in childcare, she's got to go and get the kids at 5:30 pm, the blokes can stay on.'"

"If your child's sick it's even more difficult. As soon as you want time off people resent it," she added.

Bishop made a public pledge to keep pushing for the recommendations put forward by her inquiry that were never taken up.

"One thing that desperately needs to be done is (to abolish) fringe benefit tax on childcare and there needs to be the ability to salary sacrifice or have tax deductibility for your childcare expenses," she said.

This would make childcare much more affordable for women who wanted to re-enter the workforce, she added.

Do you think this survey is off the mark or do you agree that a woman's career suffers when she plans children? Post your opinions and experiences on the message board below.