National event advocates urgent employer action to address the ‘motherhood penalty’

‘Motherhood doesn’t reduce potential. It reveals it’, was the central message at a national event, organised by OU’s Mumentum team and Beyond the School Run, to inspire meaningful employer action in tackling the motherhood penalty at work.

Mumentum is a flagship OU campaign to support mothers to make a sustainable return to work or study after starting a family. The campaign is informed by academic research insight and closely aligned to the OU’s mission to promote educational opportunity and social justice.

Mothers still face significant barriers in returning to work and progressing their careers after any kind of parental leave. The ‘motherhood penalty’ undermines labour-market participation, earnings and employer productivity, with worrying long-term consequences for gender equality and economic growth.

Hosted by Barclays in Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, the event brought together employers, founders, coaches and parents to debate what more needs to happen to enable motherhood to become mumentum.

Louise Hill, Founder of GoHenry; Nicola Piercy, Co-Founder of Stripe & Stare; and Alla Ouvarova, Co-Founder of Two Chicks, were some of the inspirational speakers whose insight prompted practical and future-focused conversations.

We need to change outdated narratives about motherhood and work. Without inclusive workplace practices that enable women to stay in work, utilise their skills and progress their careers, employers will miss out on a significant talent pool. Mothers bring a unique combination of skills, experience and perspectives that can strengthen organisations, communities and society.

We are delighted to work with Beyond the School Run on this event, in our mutual aim of driving real workplace and societal change, widening access to opportunity and support women at every stage of their career journey.

Kendal Wright Lecturer, The Open University

Kendal, who is also a co-lead on the Mumentum research, shared the practical toolkits the team has produced for parents and employers, supporting sustainable returns to work after any kind of parental leave. They were published in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions and have been rolled out across more than 650 Jobcentre Plus locations in Great Britain, with parallel distribution through the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

The toolkits aim to ensure progress benefits all mothers. They draw on the team’s large-scale research with groups largely ignored in this area, including mothers in front-line roles, shift-based working patterns and ethnic minority mothers.

Calls to action for employers from the research include:

• Equip managers with the confidence and skills to support mothers during pregnancy, leave and return to work in a consistent way
• Normalise genuine flexible working for all parents and caregivers
• Acknowledge that mothers’ experience of parenthood and returning to work will all be different
• Provide practical, postnatal workplace adjustments
• Actively support re-onboarding of parent returners
• Articulate transparent and clear progression pathways for returning parents
• Create peer, buddy and mentoring support

To find out more, including an opportunity for employers to work with the Mumentum research team to create workplaces where mothers can thrive, contact [email protected].