Ep 147 - The motherhood penalty with Joeli Brearley
Have you heard of the phrase the motherhood penalty? This week’s guest, Joeli Brearly, founder of the brilliant Pregnant Then Screwed charity is on a mission to help us understand what it means and also how to do something about it.
She set up Pregnant Then Screwed after being sacked when she was just 4 months pregnant. It started as a project to collect other women’s experiences and now seven years later it is a leading charity supporting thousands of mothers each week who have faced discrimination at work. If you are not familiar with it, it’s worth looking up.
Reading Joeli’s book, The Motherhood Penalty was incredibly eye-opening for me. I loved digging into the data on this. My intention with this episode was to bring awareness to this issue and bring to light some of the shocking data and statistics around what it means and how the system is basically rigged against us. Joeli explains why brilliantly in this episode.
I hope this conversation inspires you to do something about it and think about how we can all support each other to make it a fairer playing field for mothers. If you can get the book I highly recommend it, but if you can’t she shares amazing information on so much on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
We talk about:
-
The truth about the motherhood penalty
-
Working mum’s during Covid
-
What we can do to help fix the motherhood penalty
We need to be watching out for each other.
- Joeli
As always, we continue the conversation over on Instagram, so come and join us there.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
-
Her new book - Pregnant and Screwed: The truth about the motherhood penalty and how to fix it.
FREEBIES! Find out how you can take control of your life, reconnect to you and more! Download ‘10 Ways to Reconnect to You’ and our weekly and monthly check-in on Motherkind.co.
Are you ready to find freedom from guilt? Let me help you find Freedom from Perfectionism if you are a mother who has ever felt not quite enough.
About Joeli Brearly
Joeli launched Pregnant Then Screwed on International Women’s Day 2015 in response to her own experience of pregnancy discrimination. Prior to establishing the organisation, Joeli had been leading on innovation projects working with artists and technologists across Europe. She is a regular contributor on Radio 5 Live, she writes for the Telegraph and the Independent, and has won various awards and accolades for her pioneering work with mothers. She is one of 50 New Radicals 2018, an inspirational woman in public affairs 2019, and an Amnesty International Women Human Rights Defender, Elle Magazine described her as ‘ fearsome and funny.’
THIS EPISODE IS SUPPORTED BY NHS TEST AND TRACE
With the kids finally back at school and some normalcy returning, we are all keen to keep life moving. NHS Test and Trace are encouraging all adults in England to get tested twice a week using totally free rapid Covid-19 tests, which are now available for all adults in England.
Testing is going to help prevent around 1 and 3 people who have Covid-19 but with no symptoms or knowledge they are spreading it.
It’s a fast and easy way to find out if you have Coronavirus, with results in around 30 minutes. You can order tests to your home or go to a test site or participating pharmacies.
For more information and guidance online go to nhs.uk/gettested
The more of us who take part the more we can help protect each other.