Mothers working as teachers in a post-16 environment face various challenges with balancing work and motherhood from the beginning of pregnancy. Colleges have in place a variety of policies, such as maternity leave and flexible working that are designed to mitigate some of these challenges. This paper investigates the experiences of eight mothers working in both teaching and support roles in colleges in the North of England. Underpinned by a matrifocal critical realist philosophy and drawing on theories of gendered organisations and maternal body theory, it examines how the mothers experience such policies. Data drawn from semi-structured interviews show how the culture of silence that exists within colleges surrounding pregnancy and maternity impacts on mothers' experiences. Additionally, the paper seeks to identify how, in a profession that is predominantly female, gendered organisational practices can still serve to produce and reproduce inequality for mothers in the workplace.