The role of motherhood has been subsumed by ‘parenting policies’ which hide the fact that mothers’ lives alter most dramatically after childbirth and they need more support, a conference heard last week.
The Modern Motherhood conference organised by the Family and Parenting Institute and the Open University launched two reports – research by the Open University on becoming a mother for the first time and a report by the FPI on the changing nature of modern motherhood.
The FPI report highlighted the fact that Government policy has increasingly focused on parents. For instance, it says there has been an emphasis on getting parents back to work, which has been almost entirely targeted at mothers.
It states: “Not enough attention has been paid to whether this is fair, what fathers’ role in all this should be and what type of work mothers are being pushed into. By talking about ‘parents’ when they really mean mothers, policymakers have blurred the distinction between mothers and fathers and failed to analyse how their lives are affected differently by the arrival of children.”
Inequality
The report acknowledges that part of the reason for talking about parenting is a drive for equality, but says that it often disguises the real inequalities that still exist in terms of the share of domestic/childcare work done by women and the pay gap that exerts itself with a vengeance after mothers return to work. It says that these inequalities now need to be properly thought through and tackled.
The report emphasises the need for more support for mothers, for example, through policies that allow fathers more flexible working. It cites the fact that fathers of young children often work longer hours than previously, how this affects the support he can provide to the mother and ultimately how this affects the relationship of the couple. It says research shows one in five people working long hours complain that it puts a strain on their relationships, and 10 per cent of cite is as the reason why they ended up divorcing.
Flexibility
Flexible working is the key concern of working mothers, the report says – three times more important paid maternity leave and more important than providing more childcare. The FPI says this suggests that mothers are looking for ways to share childcare with their partner rather than farm it out to other people. The FPI says that many mothers tell it that it is not a lack of childcare that is difficult, but the “complexity involved in trying to work round fitting in the school run, nursery or childminder drop-off”. These arrangements which often require organising an array of support people – the father, relatives, friends – can be a barrier to returning to work.
The report says that while parenting services have increased, there have been cutbacks in services which support mothers such as health visitors who tend to be focused on the most needy.
It says: “It is as if the state has convinced itself that most mothers do not need special help (even though they give birth) and are now so confident that they are able to help themselves though leaflets and websites, though the FPI research in reaching vulnerable families suggests that many want to have a person like a health visitor who they can turn to for professional advice. In reality, women now spend less time in hospital after birth, their own parents may live further away or be too old to help with the baby and in many ways they may need the support of a health visitor more than ever before.”
Health visitors
It points out that health visitors deal particularly with the kind of problems mothers, rather than parents, may come across such as post-natal depression, and the impact they have on infant mental health.
It concludes: “Mothers and fathers are not equal after childbirth. Mothers need special services which address their needs to give them and their baby a good start in life which means help with maternal and infant mental health, breastfeeding and other help to support their general wellbeing. Fathers need different help to support their partners. It should not be ‘natural’ that mothers pay such a heavy financial and social penalty for childbirth.”
The FPI is calling for all parents to have the right not merely to request flexible working, but to have flexible working, with small businesses being given financial help to put this into practice. It wants jobs to be advertised flexibly, free early education for all three and four year olds which should also cover the school holidays, part-time pay to be paid at the same rate as full-time pay, more investment in health visitors, equal parental leave, an increase in maternity pay to minimum wage levels, priority free childcare for the unemployed and single parents and a review of the continuing pay gap between traditional women’s jobs and other jobs.
Equality Bill
Sally Gimson, campaigns manager at the FPI says the newly launched Equality Bill should do much more to tackle the pay gap between working mothers and men.
She says: “Regardless of how much money they earn – all working mothers face financial inequality after they have a baby, a fate not shared by fathers. Mums pay a high price when they go back to work juggling childcare and family responsibilities. It’s a very different picture for men at work when they become fathers. We need policies that recognise the different responsibilities and demands on fathers and mothers – not just parents.”
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