Mumsnet campaigns: Women and work

From the gender pay gap to the motherhood penalty, and from pregnancy and maternity discrimination to the yawning gender gap in pensions entitlement, the intersection of motherhood and work can be really painful for women. It can leave them over-stressed when their children are very young, professionally frustrated as their children get older, and impoverished as they leave the workforce.

Most mothers in the UK do some form of paid work, and work-related issues - the good and the bad - prompt thousands of forum conversations on Mumsnet every month. At Mumsnet we’ve set ourselves the task of making parents’ lives easier, and many of the answers lie in the workplace.

96% of our users say that having children affects women’s careers for the worse, but just 9% say the same is true for fathers. 84% say they think they would be earning more if they had not had children, and 73% say they think they would be more senior in their workplace. 

7% say they would have considered not having children at all if they’d known what the effect would be on their careers. 

From parental leave provisions to inequalities in domestic chores, and from childcare to pregnancy discrimination, Mumsnet campaigns for the changes women need.

Last updated: August 2021