Abstract
This paper develops a conceptual account of post-maternity return as a fairness issue in career progression. Drawing on organisational justice, it argues that the key issue is not whether support is offered, but whether support preserves fair access to the conditions that shape future advancement. The paper identifies three core elements of fair inclusion after maternity leave: developmental opportunity, professional visibility, and communication about pace. It shows how support can become limiting when it is shaped by managerial assumption rather than explicit discussion, reducing access to meaningful work and weakening visibility over time. In this way, the maternal wall may be reproduced not only through overt discrimination, but also through ordinary, well-intentioned organisational practices. This paper contributes to debates on motherhood, work, and inequality by reframing return from maternity leave as a question of fair inclusion in future career progression. It shows how support during return can become limiting when it reduces access to developmental opportunities and professional visibility. The paper also offers practical guidance on what fairer support looks like in practice.