Back from Maternity Leave, But Left Out of the Room
Coming back to work after maternity leave wasn’t just physically hard.
It was emotionally exhausting—and professionally isolating in ways I didn’t expect.
I walked back into a team of men.
No knowledge transfer.
No documentation.
No onboarding back into the flow.
Just silence—and the unspoken expectation that I should somehow “catch up.”
I’ve been:
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Assigned low-impact tasks
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Shut out of conversations I started
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Given vague “light summaries” of decisions made behind closed doors
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Interrupted, overlooked, and quietly underestimated
And when my work did start getting noticed?
Suddenly, others stepped in to take ownership to prove that they are very capable.
When I spoke up, I got the usual:
“You’re overthinking.”
“It’s not intentional.”
But exclusion doesn’t have to be loud to be real.
It’s in the subtle ways you’re left out. It adds up.
Sometimes I wonder:
Would they treat women at home like this too?
Or is empathy just not considered “productive” at work—especially toward postpartum women?
And then there's the added weight of being a non-immigrant in a shaky job market.
I’m expected to be grateful. Quiet. Low-maintenance.
But I didn’t come back just to survive.
I came back to lead. To grow. To be seen.
To anyone going through something similar:
You are not the problem.
You’re not imagining it.
And you are definitely not alone.
Being a postpartum woman in tech—or any workplace—can feel like you’re pushing uphill while everyone else pretends the hill isn’t even there.
But every day you show up? That’s resistance. That’s power.
Let’s talk.
If this hits home—drop a comment, DM, or just react.
The more we speak, the less invisible we all are.
#PostpartumWorkLife #WorkingMothers #InclusionMatters #WorkplaceBias #WomenInTech #Leadership #ReturnToWork
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