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Mothers across the country have shared their experiences of being denied jobs or promotions because they had children, amid an MP’s drive to get more of them into politics.
Stella Creasy‘s ‘This Mum Votes’ campaign was launched in late 2021 in an effort to get more mothers and new parents elected to parliament and help address the “lack of mum voices in the decision-making process”.
The Labour MP for Walthamstow described being “heartbroken” by her own party’s response to her two pregnancies and unprecedented fight for maternity cover as an MP.
‘You’re pregnant, not sick’
She was the first in history to get cover in her constituency after her first child in 2019 but is still fighting the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which says other people cannot cover MPs in parliament, after she gave birth for a second time last year.
Ms Creasy also prompted a rethink over parliamentary rules on babies in the House of Commons after sharing a letter advising her she should not have brought her sleeping three-month-old into the chamber.
“I took my baby in not because I wanted to, but because I don’t have any maternity cover,” she told Sky News.
“It’s an imperfect solution to a system that isn’t really set up for parents to be part of our political process.”
Responding to a call for experiences from fellow campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed this week, one woman recalled being told she would have to use her annual leave allowance to get time off for morning sickness.
“‘If you want to start late due to morning sickness, you’ll have to use your annual leave,'” the woman said on Twitter.
“‘Is it not sick leave?’ ‘No! You’re pregnant, not sick’ (when I mentioned all the unpaid overtime I’d recently done, HR suddenly went quiet on the matter.”
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Source : skynews
