• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
MPW

‘Pregnant Then Screwed’ comes to the U.S.

Kristen Bellstrom
By
Kristen Bellstrom
Down Arrow Button Icon
Kristen Bellstrom
By
Kristen Bellstrom
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 24, 2015, 2:31 PM ET
482763153
Pregnant business woman using lap top.Photograph by Getty Images

Earlier this year, Joeli Brearley launched a UK site called “Pregnant Then Screwed,” where she invites women to post their horror stories of being mistreated by employers during (and often after) their pregnancies.

Well, turns out that pregnancy discrimination isn’t just a U.K. thing (who knew!). Now, Brearley has quietly launched a U.S. version of the site, usa.pregnantthenscrewed.com. So far the site has just nine entries, but given the popularity of the U.K. site—and the fact that the American version debuted just a week ago—it seems likely that it will catch on.

Here’s a sampling of what people are writing on the site so far:

“I was four months into the pregnancy and had it all—morning sickness, trials, appellate arguments, all at the same time. My supervisor had been paying close attention to me and I was under the mistaken impression that he cared about the health of me and my unborn child. Nope. He had been observing my performance because there were ‘concerns.'”

“At 7-months [pregnant], my new boss told me I wasn’t needed anymore, adding ‘and don’t expect to work here after you have your baby, because it’s our policy not to employ women with children under the age of 13. We’re running a business and can’t afford to have employees leave during the day to pick up a sick kid from school.'”

“Before my pregnancy, I thought my relationship with my manager was quite good, but after I got pregnant, things started to deteriorate.”

Reached via email, Brearley says she was inspired to launch the new site when she started hearing from women in the U.S. who wanted to share their stories. She suspected there was interest, but it took a push—some fans who said they were thinking about launching their own version—to make it happen. “I knew I needed to speed things up a bit!” says Brearley.

She launched the original UK site after experiencing her own bout with pregnancy discrimination. According to a piece she wrote for The Guardian, Brearley, then working as a self-employed project manager, told her employer that she would have to leave her current project earlier than expected because of her pregnancy. Despite ensuring that her client would be well cared for during her absence, she says the company abruptly fired her.

Pregnancy discrimination remains a major problem in the U.S. More than 5,000 pregnancy discrimination suits were filed in 2013, prompting the The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to release updated guidance on how companies are expected to treat pregnant employees last year.

“I want Pregnant Then Screwed to become a collection of global stories from real women,” says Brearley. “We can all work together to raise awareness of this systemic problem and the negative impact it is having on women and on the global economy.”

Thus far, Brearly says the feedback for the U.S. site has been positive—though she’s expecting to hear from the trolls eventually. “I am sure [criticism] will come,” she says. “I certainly experienced my fair share from the UK version!”

Subscribe to The Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

About the Author
Kristen Bellstrom
By Kristen Bellstrom
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Meetings are not work, says Southwest Airlines CEO—and he’s taking action, by blocking his calendar every afternoon from Wednesday to Friday 
By Preston ForeDecember 15, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
America's $38 trillion national debt 'exacerbates generational imbalances' with Gen Z and millennials paying the price, warns think tank
By Eleanor PringleDecember 16, 2025
19 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
'I had to take 60 meetings': Jeff Bezos says 'the hardest thing I've ever done' was raising the first million dollars of seed capital for Amazon
By Dave SmithDecember 15, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
The job market is so bad, people in their 40s are resorting to going back to school instead of looking for work
By Sydney LakeDecember 16, 2025
22 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
An MIT roboticist who cofounded bankrupt Roomba maker iRobot says Elon Musk's vision of humanoid robot assistants is 'pure fantasy thinking'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Exclusive: After citations against Elon Musk’s Boring Company were suddenly withdrawn, federal regulators are now investigating Nevada OSHA
By Jessica MathewsDecember 16, 2025
6 hours ago

Latest in MPW

Workplace CultureSports
Exclusive: Billionaire Michele Kang launches $25 million U.S. Soccer institute that promises to transform the future of women’s sports
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 2, 2025
14 days ago
C-SuiteLeadership Next
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman says she has the best job ever: ‘My job is to help make people feel really good about themselves’
By Fortune EditorsNovember 5, 2025
1 month ago
ConferencesMPW Summit
Executives at DoorDash, Airbnb, Sephora and ServiceNow agree: leaders need to be agile—and be a ‘swan’ on the pond
By Preston ForeOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, at Fortune MPW 2025
MPW
Experts say the high failure rate in AI adoption isn’t a bug, but a feature: ‘Has anybody ever started to ride a bike on the first try?’
By Dave SmithOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jamie Dimon with his hand up at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit
SuccessProductivity
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says if you check your email in meetings, he’ll tell you to close it: ’it’s disrespectful’
By Preston ForeOctober 17, 2025
2 months ago
Pam Catlett
ConferencesMPW Summit
This exec says resisting FOMO is a major challenge in the AI age: ‘Stay focused on the human being’
By Preston ForeOctober 16, 2025
2 months ago