The Motherhood Penalty: How to stop motherhood being the kiss of death for your career

‘You may think I’m being melodramatic but ask any mother what choices she would make if she had complete freedom, and I can guarantee you that her…

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‘In the UK, parental-leave legislation favours mothers taking time out to care for children over fathers. In fact, thousands of working dads have no access to any paid paternity leave whatsoever. This means that, in nearly every family, the mother is the main carer,…

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It’s my standard pre-interview ceremonial dance; I’m like Anthony Joshua with gender equality data for boxing gloves.

Thousands of mothers are being forced out of their jobs, and hundreds of thousands more face other types of injustice such as demotions, halted careers or an impossible workload.

Brilliant, skilled, hard-working women are being pushed out and pushed to the edge by a system that ignores their needs and by employers who undermine their abilities. The rising cost of living, and a benefit system that doesn’t consider caregiving to have worth, forces women into poverty for doing the most important job there is – raising the next

‘Well, it’s the usual suspects: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden. The countries where childcare is properly subsidised, where ring-fenced, properly paid paternity leave means dads are far more likely to take time out to care for their children, and flexible working is the norm for all employees. In these countries, mothers report far higher levels

Many mothers look for part-time and flexible work so that they can manage all of this extra unpaid work, but only 10 per cent of jobs are advertised as part-time, with just 1 in 4 jobs specifying any type of flexible working,9 so many women are forced to work in jobs that are well below their skill level. On top of this, part-time work is paid at a

‘A mother’s choices are limited by extortionately priced, inflexible, inaccessible childcare. A mother’s choices are limited by maternity pay that is well below the national living wage. A mother’s choices are limited by the rising cost of living, which means most families need two incomes to cover their basic costs.1 A mother’s choices are limited

What I am saying is that the current system prevents many mothers from leaving their paid work to care for their own kids, and for those who want to work and continue their careers during pregnancy and early motherhood, they encounter unnecessary and impossible challenges. In both situations, women are disproportionately affected by a labour market

‘Let me give you some examples. In the UK, 54,000 women a year are pushed out of their jobs due to pregnancy or for taking maternity leave, and 77 per cent of working mums face discrimination – that’…

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