Halloween Day, 12.20, Trafalgar Square... Hundreds of discontented mums wrapped in bloodied toilet paper are pushing their prams towards Westminster. Their placards read: “March of the Mummies; We’re Dead Serious About Working Parents’ Rights” and “My Skills Got Me Hired, My Womb Got Me Fired”. No trick or treat here; this Walking Dead squad is here to speak up on the very real curse of being a working mum in 2017. In the UK, 11% of mothers are made redundant or pushed out of their jobs because of their pregnancies.
It’s the first protest for Pregnant Then Screwed, the pressure group launched in 2015 as a platform for horror stories of maternity discrimination, which affects around 54,000 women in the UK. It is now a nationwide support network providing advice to working mothers going through the clusterfuck of employment tribunals. If the campaign is geared towards the injustices faced by working mothers, it is wholly inclusive of fathers who want to spend more time with their children.
Once in Parliament Square, speakers address the cheerful crowd, a majority of seemingly middle-class and freelancer parents. Broadcaster Helen Skelton removes the chainsaw on her head to denounce the declining salaries for mothers returning to work; Sophie Walker from the Women’s Equality Party calls on employers to recognise the worth and productivity of mothers; actress Manjinder Virk shares a success story of a colleague “working the production schedule around her bump”; and celebrity parenting blogger Mother Pukka delivers a convincing speech on the economic benefits of flexi work through a megaphone, while holding her nonplussed baby daughter.
Supported by members of the Green and Labour parties as well as the SNP, the campaigners are making five demands, including increasing fathers' paid paternity leave from two to six weeks; subsidising childcare for children between six months and three years; and extending the time limits for pregnant and postpartum women to raise a tribunal claim. These call on the government to catch up with changing gender roles as well as work conditions brought on by the freelance, digital economy.
Full-time working mothers struggle with the lack of flexibility offered to juggle their families and careers, while self-employed parents are ineligible for Shared Parental Pay, a recent measure that could soften the gender pay gap if applied widely. Parental Pay Equality, another protest group taking part in the march, is lobbying for extending shared parental pay to freelancers.
Shared Parental Pay offers up to 37 weeks of paid leave to be split equally between two parents, but is yet to become the norm since being implemented in April 2015. Many fathers don’t even contemplate requesting flexible working hours or time off to look after their kids, for fear of missing out on opportunities or seeming disengaged at work. The groups present last night want companies to make it mandatory for fathers to take leave; the only way to spread the childcare responsibilities more evenly and achieve real gender equality.
In a genuinely scary context of job insecurity, rising competition, workplace sex/ageism and a system that doesn’t value care work, Refinery29 went to the March of the Mummies to collect frightening tales of pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Happy Halloween!
Joeli Brearley, 38, chief executive and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, mother of two
When I told my employer I was pregnant, I was fired a few days later by voicemail. I was on a fixed-term contract, it was completely illegal. They said I wasn’t doing my job properly, but never showed signs of this before. I was distraught. I sought legal advice, but I found out that I had a high-risk pregnancy, so I had to make a choice between fighting my case or looking after the baby.
I dropped the case, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I attended a parents’ group and told my story, and heard many other women’s accounts of workplace bullying, demotion and redundancy. So I set up a blog to record stories anonymously in 2015, and have since collected more than 800 testimonials. Workplace discrimination affects vulnerable women most. If you’re a single mum and under 26, you’re more likely to lose your job.
Equal shared parental leave is really great for couples; kids are doing better when fathers are equally caring for them. Parenting can be really isolating. Taking equal time off to care for a baby makes the family stronger.
Anonymous, 36, entertainment industry worker, mother of one
I worked for a record label when I got pregnant. My whole maternity was dealt with quite badly. There was no proper cover put in place for my job, so I had to get my position from the various people in charge of my role when I came back. They restructured my department over the course of a year and I was made redundant.
I was incredibly angry, and let down by the company that should have been loyal to me. I chose not to fight the case in tribunal, it wasn’t worth it. My employer gave me the same amount I would have got through the settlement agreement. The whole experience was particularly difficult because my husband still works at the company.
In our society, business and profit rule everything, so anything that disrupts this is seen as wrong. But a lot of the stats on flexible work show that if you trust people to arrange their own working life, you get more out of them.
Business owners should listen to the reality of parenthood, and create an environment that fosters success for all of us. Everyone has come from a mother. Think about the way you would want your own mother to be treated.
Anonymous, 31, social services employee, mother of one
I worked flexible hours in a local authority before I had my baby. This allowed me to care for my stepchildren. I was not allowed to return to my flexible hours after having my daughter, so I’m currently going into a tribunal process with them.
I contacted Pregnant Then Screwed to use their free legal advice line, and one of their amazing solicitors is currently supporting me. Thankfully the tribunal fees have now been ruled unlawful.
Doing the work that I do, I never thought I’d be in a position to experience workplace discrimination. Another woman in my department is going to leave her role as she is being refused any form of part-time or flexible time. We’re a caring profession but it doesn’t seem to care back.
I’m a highly skilled employee, and I’m being pushed out of the workforce. I have five friends that had babies, and only one of them has returned to her job. Employers should think creatively about their workforce, about how their business is going to look in five to 10 years.
Anonymous, 25, ex-showroom employee, mother of one
I’m a single mother and I recently quit my job. I asked to take one day off for my son’s fourth birthday party, and another day to move house. Both requests were declined. My employer said I had to sort my social life around work, and extended my probation.
I was sometimes expected to work until 8pm, seven days in a row. I had to leave, I couldn’t leave my son on his own at home to feed himself.
I took the issue to the HR department and got signed off work sick by my doctor with stress. I had told my employer from the beginning about my availability, but because I never got it in writing, legally I didn’t have a leg to stand on. Now I will have to get Universal Credit, but will be sanctioned because I voluntarily left my job.
What really upset me was that my boss was a mother, and she would say to me that if she was able to cope, then I should too. But the difference is I’m a single mum, and the only family member in London. She was married, so it’s not the same.
There isn’t enough to protect single mothers in the workplace. There should be priority for parents and especially single parents to schedule their work around their family life. This has an effect on children who can’t see their parents. If you’ve got an issue with mums leaving work a bit earlier, then you should really check yourself.
Holly, 35, retail worker, mother of one
I think it is disgraceful that in this day and age so many women are still discriminated against just because they get pregnant. Working mums are some of the most productive people that you’ll meet, they’re great at time management and prioritising. So the fact that they are edged out of the workforce is crazy to me.
I was made redundant after I went back to work. I am not saying it was connected to the fact I had a baby, as it was part of a bigger restructure. I am now working freelance because it works better around my childcare. I have more time with my son, but it means my career has taken a completely different turn.
The main problem is the way people think about what it means to be a mum, thinking that your focus completely changes. Of course it does slightly when you have children, but it doesn’t mean your work isn’t important to you anymore. If what you want is to have a successful career, then you should be able to do that and have kids.
I hope this protest will bring change around childcare, which is prohibitively expensive [around £45 a day in London], and has an impact on whether mums can go back into work. It’s also important to have equality between mothers and fathers in terms of childcare, so that dads can pick up their ends of things as well.
Sonia Sisk, 41, manager for the Department of Work and Pensions, mother of one
I’ve experienced maternity discrimination, and just won an employment tribunal. My job was given to someone else while I was on maternity leave and once back, they tried to give me a job I didn’t want, with no prospect of a promotion. They were not respecting the law, and got crucified in tribunal. I was given a better job and they had to pay me compensation, as well as cover tribunal fees and their barristers’ fees.
I still work with the same three managers now, so the atmosphere is pretty strange. Most of the time it’s ok, but occasionally I’m made to feel like I’m the one who has done something wrong. At the end of the day, these managers broke the law and have not been punished, when I was faced with disciplinary for taking them to tribunal.
Employment tribunal is hard, and it happens at the most difficult time in the lives of working mothers. My son was born early and had health problems, and I had to deal with that as well as the case. You have to be really strong to go through this; not every woman has the moral and financial support of their friends and families.
I would say to any woman going on maternity leave: keep all your emails and text messages, because that was some of the damning evidence that I was able to provide. Tell your employer from the start what you want when you come back, put it in writing, and be strong.
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