March Of The Mummies is a national protest to demand Government reform on: childcare, parental leave and flexible working. More than 12,000 parents will march across the country in 11 locations at 11am on Saturday 29th October 2022. As it is Halloween, we are encouraging fancy dress (hence the name – March of the Mummies!)
Childcare providers are falling like dominos, mothers are dropping out of the workforce in droves, the gender pay gap increased in 2021, and more families are now living in poverty. Have you had enough yet? These are political choices made by our Government and the only way we make them listen is if we organise. On Saturday 29th October we will be marching in 11 cities across the UK to demand that the Prime Minister priorities: childcare, parental leave and flexible working. Please join us, we need you!
March of the Mummies is a protest for families to shine a light on the UKs appalling record:
➡️We have the second most expensive childcare system in the world due to years of underfunding from our Government
➡️We have the third worst ranking maternity pay, and the least generous paternity leave, in Europe
➡️Mothers face a pay penalty of 45% lower earnings in the 6 years after giving birth
➡️3 in 4 job adverts fail to mention flexible working, yet 82% of Brits want to work flexibly
What are our demands?
We believe there are three key issues that have a significant impact upon The Motherhood Penalty and we want the Government to acknowledge these issues and set out a plan for action. They are:
👉Good quality affordable childcare for all children
Yes! The first March of the Mummies took place on Tuesday 31st October 2017 at midday in 6 cities across the UK and one city in California. The demonstration demanded recognition, respect and action for working mums and dads.
The main demonstration started on Trafalgar Square and we marched to Parliament Square where we presented MPs with our demands for change.
Sister marches took place in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester. Families dressed up as mummies (the walking dead kind) to represent the archaic legislation that is currently in place, and of course it was Halloween!
Each march was family friendly and although the subject matter is very serious, the marches were fun events with face painters and music
Who Came?
Attendees included celebrities, politicians, influencers and high profile organisations as well as hundreds of people who want to see change. These included:
Helen Skelton (TV presenter), Manjinder Virk (actor and director), Sophie Walker (Leader of the Women’s Equality Party), Leanne Wood (Leader of Plaid Cymru), Ivana Bartoletti (Chair of the Fabien Women’s Network), Caroline Lucas MP, Jess Phillips MP, Afzhal Khan MP, Jo Stevens MP, Alison Thewliss MP, Mike Amesbury MP, Ellie Reeves MP, Kate Green MP, Mother Pukka, Susie Verrill, TobyandRoo, Candice Braithwaite, Alison Perry, Clemmie Telford, Too Much Mothering Information.
The protest also saw support from Keira Knightley, Stacey Solomon, Angela Raynor MP, Clive Lewis MP, Beverly Turner
Globally, Pregnant Then Screwed was mentioned in 138 articles on the day of the march.
There were 1035 Instagram posts about March of the Mummies and the hashtag #marchofthemummies was trending on twitter.
The next day… March of the Mummies was raised as a direct question to Theresa May in Prime Minister’s Questions. She was asked if she had our demands and what she plans to do about the inaccessibility of shared parental leave.
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