Thousands march throughout UK, demands affordable childcare

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29th Oct, 2022. 09:48 pm
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Demonstrators demand affordable childcare, flexible working and paid parental leave.
March of the Mummies marches held in cities across the UK on Saturday.
Families wore bandages, vampire costumes and witches’ caps to protest against cuts to parental leave for mothers and children.

Hundreds of protestors in downtown London demanded childcare and parental leave reform, On Saturday. March of the Mummies protesters desire “affordable childcare, flexible working and decently paid parental leave”.

The Bristol, Glasgow, and Norwich marches were among numerous throughout the UK.

The government said it was “committed to supporting working parents and helping them participate” in work.

In London, Labour MP Stella Creasy claimed Rishi Sunak “(doesn’t) really know what he’s talking about” by comparing maternity leave to a holiday.

Speaking to the PA news agency, she added: “We’ve got a cost-of-living crisis and an economy that isn’t growing.

“You can’t solve either of those challenges without investing in childcare.

“For me, investing in childcare pays off because the more women – and it is mainly women being penalized by this – can work, the more families can make choices that work for them.”

Participating families, including small children, wore bandages, vampire costumes, and witches’ caps.

Manchester and Birmingham marches drew thousands. The charity Pregnant Then Screwed protested in Cardiff.

Speaking in Bristol, Mandu Reid, leader of the British Women’s Equality Party, accused the government of leaving mothers to work on “pittance wages” while raising children.

She said that “underpaid, undervalued, largely women workers” were paying the cost for the “failures” of the political system.

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“We can win this (and) we won’t stop until our political system fixes the problems it’s created,” she said.

In Manchester’s St Peter’s Square, Joeli Brearley, founder and chief executive of Pregnant Then Screwed, said “mothers are being pushed out of the workforce every year for simply daring to procreate”.

Bekkie Nickerson, a freelance actor who spoke at the event, explained why she had to decline her “ideal job” this week: “All the wage would go on daycare and I want some flexible working,” she added.

Luke Barley said that the current system is “set up so dads have to go back to work”.

“And mums end up doing more of the childcare,” he added.

“So we don’t have the options and choices available to us and the kids don’t get the great experience that they deserve either.”

A spokesman for the Department for Education said the UK “has one of the most generous maternity leave entitlements in the world” and has spent more than £20 billion over the past five years supporting working parents.

“We want employees to be able to request when, where, and how they work, and that’s why the Government has recently consulted on making the right to request flexible working a day-one right for all employees,” he added.

Thousands march throughout UK, demands affordable childcare

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