Work Series: You’re Not Imagining It — The System Is Rigged Against Working Mothers, with Jane van Zyl

·49 min·4 clips

Fathers get a 30% pay increase when they become dads, while mothers see their earnings drop.

This episode is part of the Motherkind Podcast's eight-part work series, hosted by Zoe Blaskey, focusing on paid work and motherhood. Zoe introduces the series, noting that 76% of mothers in her community want to change aspects of their paid work. The guest is Jane van Zyl, CEO of Working Families, a UK charity for working parents and carers. Jane provides a macro perspective on systemic challenges, starting with the gendered nature of caring responsibilities and societal assumptions. She explains the motherhood penalty, detailing how it affects all women, with statistics on the UK gender pay gap: 7% for full-time employees and 13.1% for all employees. Jane contrasts the fatherhood bonus, where fathers get a 30% pay increase, with mothers experiencing a decrease. She discusses the financial strain of maternity leave, where women receive only 90% of salary for the first six weeks, leading many on lower incomes to take less leave. The conversation covers part-time work, with Jane noting that part-time workers are only one-fifth as likely to be promoted, and the flexibility paradox where workload doesn't decrease. She highlights PwC research showing part-time women as the most productive. Jane advises on navigating workplace flexibility, mentioning legal rights to request flexible working from day one and the 80% success rate on their helpline. She talks about employer initiatives, like Zurich advertising all jobs as flexible, and the importance of job design. The discussion shifts to shared parental leave, with Jane calling it a failed policy due to low take-up, partly because paternity pay is low. She advocates for well-paid paternity leave as a key change to promote equal parenting. Jane shares examples of employers offering 26 weeks paid leave for all parents and cultural barriers fathers face when seeking flexibility. She ends with encouragement for listeners, emphasizing self-care and resources, and gifts mothers the message that they are 'good enough.' The episode includes sponsor ads for Wild Nutrition and the May app.

As heard by us

A practical look at the policies that can help parents stay in work.

Motherkind's work series settles on a familiar pressure point for many mothers: how paid work and motherhood collide, and how often flexibility proves harder to find than employers suggest.

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Why you'd press play

When work and motherhood feel like the same impossible calendar.

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