Protesting ‘mummies’ on the march

A ‘MARCH of the mummies’ is to take place in Newcastle today as part of a national campaign to improve rights for pregnant working women.

It will feature women wrapped in bandages in an event organised by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed and simultaneous protests will be staged in London, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and Glasgow.

The group was founded in 2015 by mum-of-two Joeli Brearley, 38, after she was sacked by a client while self-employed in Newcastle when four months pregnant.

Shocked to find her experience was far from unique, she launched the project which helps women discuss their experiences as well as getting free legal advice.

Joeli, who will be taking part in the ‘march of the mummies’ event in London, said: “I will be marching, arm in arm, with women who have suffered at the hands of their employers for simply giving birth to the next generation. We will be handing the Government our demands in the hope that we will bring to an end to maternity discrimination, through creating better policies that enable shared responsibility thus removing the onus on women.”

Those taking part in Newcastle will gather at around noon outside the civic centre.

They will then march up Northumberland Street to Grey’s Monument for a rally.

The group is also calling for childcare to be subsidised from when a child is six months old, the self-employed to be given statutory shared parental leave, and fathers to have improved paternity leave.

It is believed 54,000 women a year are pushed out of their job for getting pregnant and 77% of working mums endure negative or discriminatory treatment in the workplace.

These numbers have almost doubled in he last 10 years. Motherhood is also a key contributor to the gender pay gap with women who have had children by the age of 33 earning 15% less than their peers who remained childless.

And there is concern about how leaving the European Union will impact on workers rights.

On the eve of the march, research by Stockport-based Gorvins Solicitors revealed, it claimed, a ‘direct link’ between the way new mothers are treated when they return to work and their susceptibility to depression.