I'm marching for Britain's working mums today - and you should, too

It has been four years since I lost my job for daring to procreate. My employer told me, by voicemail, that my contract was being pulled, the day after I had informed her I was pregnant. I play that moment over and over in my mind on a weekly basis. It was the moment when everything changed for me - the moment I became painfully aware of the deep inequalities that exist for mothers, and indeed women in general.

Becoming a mother is the single most damaging thing you can do to your career. In the UK, women who have children by the age of 33 earn 15 per cent less than their childless counterparts. While men are rewarded with pay rises and promotions for becoming fathers. Our legislation and our labour market doesn’t work for working mums. They don't protect or support us - they set us up to fail.

Before you even get pregnant, you are likely to have been a victim of pregnancy discrimination without even realising it. Research has shown that 40 per cent of employers will avoid hiring a woman of childbearing age.

Once you get pregnant, you have a one in nine chance of being pushed out of your job and a 77 per cent chance of encountering some form of discrimination. If you return to work quickly once you have had the baby, your colleagues will think you are not caring; if you take your full maternity leave, your colleagues will think you are not committed and incompetent.

The unconscious (and some conscious) bias towards mothers, comes from deeply entrenched gender stereotypes that instinctively tell us women should be at home fluffing up cushions and baking cakes from the moment the pregnancy test turns blue.

This isn’t just an issue for women who want careers, it is an issue for stay at home mums. Caring is not valued work. Parents who look after their children full time are sneered at by others, indeed the Government classifies them as ‘economically inactive.’ We are damned either way.

For the many mothers who want and/or need to work, returning is made painfully difficult. Childcare costs are prohibitively expensive, in fact a study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2016 said UK childcare is the most expensive in the world.

Last week, the TUC revealed that childcare costs are rising four times faster than wages. For most it means you are either forced to leave your job, or spend three years living off the cupboard crumbs; or worse, you're caught between not being able to afford to work and not being able to afford not to work. Even when your precious little lambs are in childcare, you are burdened by the guilt of how badly those incredible people who care for your kids are paid.

My youngest was being looked after by a brilliant 19-year-old woman who earned £30 for a 10 hour day. No-one is winning. Nurseries are closing their doors by the dozen because their margins are so tight, kids are getting substandard care, those patient, kind souls who care for them are flat broke while a single parent spends more than a fifth of their wages on childcare.

Then there’s the issue of flexibility. Flexible working is crucial for many parents trying to balance childcare and a career but only one in 10 job listings mention flexibility. I have heard  hundreds of stories from women who have been forced to leave their job as it would have been impossible to fulfill their caring responsibilities with the hours they were expected to work.

The thing is, flexible working is good for business. Research from CIPD has shown that flexible working improves staff engagement and motivation. The Government’s capital and wellbeing report 2017 showed that 84 per cent of Generation Z and Millennials seek flexibility when job hunting, and the UK economy would be £165 million richer/more productive if all businesses got on board.

Collette Cassin, a single mum who is leading the Belfast March of the Mummies said: “I was 40-years old when I found out I was pregnant. My relationship had broken down but I carried on working. Under instruction from my GP, I went on maternity leave early but when it was time to return to work, I began to put provisions in place, sought out a child minder and contacted my place of work.

"I was told immediately that my request for flexible working hours was not good for business and was then offered night time and weekend work which was hardly suitable. I was gutted as well as concerned about my baby. Like any mother, I wanted to provide for her but couldn’t.

“It had a knock on effect on my self-esteem and self-worth. I loved my job and wanted to remain there. I couldn’t understand why this was happening. Why wasn’t I able to return to my job?’’

Research by Gorvins Solicitors has shown that over half of mothers who encounter mental health issues when they return to work say discrimination was a key factor.

But why do these problems fall disproportionately on the shoulders of women?

Well, that’s because women tend to be the main carers and why would we expect any different when our legislation supports caring inequality? Mothers are given 6 weeks leave at 90 per cent of pay, fathers receive no such thing. If you are self-employed, fathers don’t have access to any paid parental leave at all.

Other countries have shown that by adapting legislation to encourage equality in the home, you reduce discrimination, decrease the gender pay gap and create happier families. In Finland, Norway and Sweden, it is mandatory for men to take a number of weeks’ leave and it is properly paid. This means that fathers are caring for their children, without the mother, from the outset, triggering greater equality in the home.

These cultures also have heavily subsidised childcare and the childcare is of a much higher standard as the Government subsidises it properly. Flexible working is also very normal and not seen as an anomaly. These are cultures with higher rates of wellbeing amongst children and parents, a lower gender pay gap and healthy economies.  

If we want to reduce the motherhood penalty and stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination then it isn’t about enhancing the law. The law is very clear: it is illegal to discriminate against a woman because she is pregnant or because she has had a baby. It is about tackling the underlying issues which create caring inequality, increasing access to justice and making it easier for parents to return to their job once they have a child.

That is why I, along with others including Sophie Walker (Leader of the Women’s Equality Party) and Anna Whitehouse (Mother Pukka) will be marching at midday today from the North Terrace to Parliament Square to demand five changes to legislation:

1. Increase the time limit to raise a tribunal claim from 3 months to (at least) 6 months

2. Require companies to report on how many flexible working requests are made and how many are granted

3. Give both parents access to 6 weeks parental leave paid at 90% of salary

4. Give the self-employed access to statutory shared parental pay

5. Subsidise childcare from 6 months old  

I believe that this is the minimum the Government needs to do if it is serious about tackling pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Women, families and our economy deserve better. It has been 20 months since the Government commissioned a report which showed that 54,000 women a year lose their job for daring to procreate, in that time more than 84,000 women have lost their job and the Government has done nothing.

Join me today to demand change.