Pregnant Then Screwed

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Pregnant Then Screwed

Charity campaigning to end the motherhood penalty

Pregnant Then Screwed is a charity run by women who have lived experience of pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Our aim is to end the motherhood penalty so that pregnant women and mothers have equal access to the labour market. We run a free legal advice line, a mentor scheme which supports women who want to take legal action against their employer and we lobby the Government for changes to l

egislation which will benefit women. During the Covid-19 pandemic we managed to change laws so that parents could continue to use informal childcare and so that children under the age of 5 were excluded from the guidance - ensuring new mums could meet with others.

18/08/2026

REP YOUR RAGE. 🔥

With the support of Teemill our merch store is officially re-launching and our first new collection of the year couldn’t have landed at a better time.

Wear your message - on the streets, at work, at the school pick-up, whilst reminding everyone that we all deserve to be able to genuinely balance work and care. Plus every purchase directly supports the work of PTS.

AND here’s the perfect opportunity to wear it too: join the Parent Strike, on 27th August at 12pm. Parents across the country will be downing tools and standing together to demand change. If you’re joining us, consider this your uniform. Wear it loud. Wear it proud. Wear your rage.

Shop our new collection now, link in bio✊

10/08/2026

🪧📣In just over two weeks time, hundreds of parents are going to be downing tools and participating in the Parent Strike organised by 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 and The Dad Shift

Want to know more? Here is everything you need to know:
At 12pm on the 27th August parents will be striking across 12 different locations

The official asks for the strike are:
Calling for two weeks paternity leave paid at 90% for all dads and non-birthing partners, including the self employed

And flexible working as a default - let’s shift working cultures so it is the norm, not the exception.

If you are able to, please join us alongside hundreds of parents to make a statement that we won’t take it anymore.

🔗 Through the link in our bio, you can check where your closest strike is happening.

⬇️ Let us know in the comments, are you hoping to come along?

07/08/2026

🔊Help Trades Union Congress (TUC) stamp out zero hours contracts and protect all workers from exploitation.

The UK Government has launched a consultation on their guaranteed hours proposals, which would allow employees working on zero hours contracts with regular hours and schedules to request it become contacted. Some employers want to see these proposals watered down. No thanks!

We know that zero hours might give parents the flexibility they need to balance work and care, but secure work is also crucial in protecting livelihoods. All too often, zero hours contracts are used to exploit workers and that’s why the TUC have started their campaign to ban zero hours contracts. Because rent, bills, food, and childcare don’t disappear if your hours get cancelled.

✍️ Support the campaign by signing the petition today, and help protect and ensure secure work for all - link in bio.

05/08/2026

❌🍼Breastfeeding discrimination isn’t an isolated issue. It’s part of a wider culture that too often treats mothers as less valuable once they return to work.

Our State of the Nation survey found that 8% of mothers experienced breastfeeding discrimination at work. The rate was higher for disabled parents (12%), rising to 14% among disabled parents in Scotland. Parents in Northern Ireland (14%) and Wales (9%) also reported higher rates than the UK average.

These figures might feel small compared to some of our other State of the Nation stats, but the reality is that breastfeeding discrimination rarely happens on its own.

At the same time, mothers are also being bullied, sidelined, overlooked for promotion, demoted or pushed out of their jobs altogether.

Every parent deserves to return to a workplace that supports them during a time that already feels uncertain and nerve-wracking, not one that punishes them.

You can read our full State of the Nation findings for the UK via the link in our bio with more Scottish specific figures coming soon👀

⬇️ This let us know in the comments, has something similar happened to you?

31/07/2026

How many mothers have quietly scaled back their careers because childcare just doesn’t add up?

Not because they wanted to.
Not because they lacked ambition.
Because the maths simply stopped working.

Every day, parents are sitting at kitchen tables, calculators in hand, trying to work out whether going to work will actually leave them better off.

For too many, the answer is no.

And while every family is feeling the pressure with the cost of living crisis, it’s single parents and parents of disabled children who are being hit hardest.

That’s not a coincidence.

It’s the predictable outcome of a childcare system that isn’t working.

We’re told childcare helps women stay in work. But when it costs so much that mums have to cut their hours, turn down promotions or leave work altogether, it’s doing the exact opposite.

This isn’t a personal failure. It’s a political one.

Childcare should open doors for mothers, not close them.

🔗 Read more in our State of the Nation report via the link in our bio.

22/07/2026

🙄🤦🏽‍♀️ Some would have you believe that flexible working is about watching daytime telly and nipping out for lunch with friends.

In reality, it’s about doing the school pick ups and drop offs, working from cafes while your children are in clubs, and catching up while they sleep and and still delivering high quality work every single day.

We don’t need to tell you why flexible working should be the default, but for those who need it most, flexible working can be a lifeline.

Single parents and disabled parents are already at a higher risk of falling through the cracks, being pushed out of work, and more likely to face financial insecurity.

Yet, our 2026 State of the Nation report finds that they are being left behind.

Refusal rates for flexible working requests have surged since 2023, with a 109% increase for single parents.

More than 1 in 10 parents are denied their flexible working requests, but for single parents, that rises to 28% and 23% for parents with a disability.

Being a parent in work is hard enough, but with the additional struggle of doing it alone, or doing it in poor health, is a whole other level.

🤔 Interested to find out more about our findings this year? You can read the full report via the link in our bio.

⬇️ Has this happened to you? Tell us about it in the comments below!

21/07/2026

🙄 It’s 2026, and this sh*t is still happening.

At the start of the year we asked you to share your story. We listened, crunched the numbers, and are officially launching our 2026 State of the Nation report today.

What did we find?

Nearly three quarters of mums are reporting pregnancy or maternity discrimination at work. 36% of which left work as a result.

Discrimination does not affect families equally: 46% of parents with a disability or single parents left the workplace due to discrimination. This rises to over half (57%) of parents with a child who has a disability.

And that the return to work presents the single highest risk point in time for pregnancy or maternity discrimination. Over a third of mothers say they were sidelined due to taking pregnancy or maternity leave.

It’s 2026 and mums are STILL being pushed out, sidelined and discriminated against for daring to have children.

You shared, we listened, and now it’s time for change.

⬇️ 🔗Read the full State of the Nation report via the link in our bio, and tell us below, do you find any of these stats surprising?

20/07/2026

🫠THE SUMMER JUGGLE IS ON.

You may know that the UK Government announced their ‘Great British Summertime Savings’ plan, aimed at reducing the astronomical cost of the summer holidays for parents. Welcome news, but we are wondering if your family will benefit from the new measures this summer.

From our summer juggle survey, we know that over half of parents say summer childcare impacts their ability to afford household essentials.

9 in 10 mums are burning through annual leave to plug the gaps.

And over a third say the summer juggle means they can’t have the family time they hoped for this summer.

With finances restricted, time limited, and family time taking the back seat, we are wondering if it will make a difference for families.

⬇️ Let us know in the comments below, do you plan on using the savings this summer?

16/07/2026

🙏 🙃 Have you ever found yourself thinking ‘let’s just get through the summer’?

Us too. You’re not alone. But the big summer juggle has never really been about just surviving the six weeks, even if it might feel that way.

The stress, the admin, and the steps away from work all compound together and manifest in the motherhood penalty. While dads and non-birthing partners often have the ability to keep climbing the ladder during the summer, it’s mums left to plug the gaps and stall their careers.

In this year’s summer survey, we found that:
1 in 3 mums reduced their hours or left work entirely to cope with summer childcare, while 9 in 10 dads didn’t have to.

And 80% of those relying on informal care to make it work this summer said gran helps out the most. Failing childcare systems mean gran never manages to escape the burden of care.

Fewer hours mean slowed progression and less in pension pots.
Tightening finances mean stress, stigma, and moving closer to the poverty line.

The summer juggle is a symptom of a much wider systemic failure: one which still views mums as carers, and dads as workers.

⬇️ Tell us below, do you think the summer juggle is having a long term impact upon you and your family?

15/07/2026

WHAT A DAY!

At the start of the year, we asked you to share your stories.

And more than 5,000 of you responded!

Since then, we’ve been crunching the numbers with Women in Data® and on Monday, we took your stories to parliament with Peanut App and and Andrew Cooper MP

Thank you to everyone who came along, engaged and made the night a success.

A special thank you goes to our speakers
Sandra Igwe from The Motherhood Group
Fiona Sweeney from Women in Data
Dania, one of our incredible members

To Ashley James an incredible advocate for an end to the motherhood penalty, for joining us.

To Peanut App for helping make the event possible,

To our PTS members, supporters and volunteers including and baby Milo for joining us,

To the wider PTS Team who have been working tirelessly to get this research out there, and finally, to each and every one of you who shared your experience.

Every response, every comment, and every ticked box helped us build a picture of parenthood in the UK: some progress but nowhere near enough, and nowhere near fast enough.

It’s 2026 and mothers are STILL being pushed out of the workforce for daring to have children.

But, this event gave us hope that change is possible, and it will be achieved by the most incredible advocates and campaigners, only a portion of who joined us last night.

🔗 We will be sharing the findings of our report over the next few weeks, but in the meantime you can read it in full on our website via the link in our bio.

Address

PO Box 883
York
YO316GY

Telephone

+441612229879

Website

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/

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