Our Story
Two days after telling her employer she was pregnant, Pregnant Then Screwed founder Joeli Brearley was sacked — by voicemail. Four months pregnant, out of work and facing a high-risk pregnancy, she felt her career and confidence collapse. Realising her story was far from unique, Joeli launched Pregnant Then Screwed on International Women’s Day 2015. What began as a space for mothers to share their experiences grew into a national charity supporting tens of thousands of women every year and fighting to end the motherhood penalty.
Over the last decade, hugely dedicated volunteers, staff and trustees have built a small but mighty organisation. Rachel Grocott joined as CEO in May 2025, and, supported by a wondrous network of members, supporters, funders and partners, we are now working on our next chapter. We’re focused on confronting the reality that mothers, parents and families are repeatedly failed by systems that are supposed to support them, but instead set up unfairness and disadvantage across a lifetime. We challenge those systems so that everyone who experiences motherhood can work and care without penalty.
