As a mother and a woman of child-bearing age, the recent articles on flexible working laws and maternity policy (“Flexibility ‘puts women’s careers on a knife edge’”, News, 24 July) hit close to home. The organisation I work for offers only the statutory minimum for maternity leave, and has senior managers who think we should not be employing women of child-bearing age.

As a commercially aware businesswoman, I understand the business case against employing women who could want up to 12 months off for maternity leave. But as a woman who values my right to have a family, I find that my bias has to fall on the side of women who want children in the modern economy.