How do we ensure women aren’t penalised for becoming parents?

There’s a moment of realisation that comes to all parent’s post-baby: the flash back to those thoughts we all have that ‘having a baby won’t change us’. I wasn’t going to let my kids watch TV, eat sweets or be ‘that mum’ who cracks open a snack mid shop. Then it came, that thought at the check-out as I handed over an empty pack to the woman with a knowing smile: some elements of parenting are simply not understood until they are lived. The biggest of them all is how on earth we balance parenting and work.

I loved my job, and having consciously moved to a 4-day role pre-baby, I was expecting to slot back in once I’d got over the birth and sleepless nights. Little was I to know it would pan out differently. I shouldn’t have found out that I was unemployed when I saw my name had been removed from the staff list of the website whilst scrolling my phone mid-breast feed.