Press Release 8th March 2021: Messages from mothers flood into the Pregnant Then Screwed SOS helpline created to capture the unfair load that women have shouldered throughout the pandemic.

Pregnant Then Screwed has today sent a recording of distraught voicemails from mothers to MP’s to highlight the desperate plight of mothers. The charity that campaigns to end the motherhood penalty for mothers set up a Scream or Shout (SOS) telephone line for women to scream and shout their frustrations at how let down they have been by the lack of government support during this pandemic.

The messages have been edited into a recording that has today been sent to MP’s to highlight the inequality that mothers have been living with and the detrimental consequences of the burden of trying to hold down their jobs and look after their children.

A Pregnant Then Screwed survey of 15,000 women in October, found that a third of new mums said that their mental health was poor. A study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research which looked at the mental health of mothers after the first lockdown found that 43% of new mums met the criteria for clinically relevant depression and 61% met the criteria for anxiety.

Joeli Brearley, Founder and CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed explains, ‘The reality is that mothers have been pushed to their absolute limits in this pandemic. They are at their wits end. They are scared about their children’s mental health, scared for their own mental health whilst simultaneously clutching onto their job with their fingernails.’

She continues, ‘One woman told us in tears that her husband has had to literally pick her up off the floor during this pandemic because she cannot cope anymore. Another told us she had said to her 5 year old that she was tired of being a mummy. These women aren’t okay, mothers are not okay right now.’

The project is designed to cement in history the realities that mothers faced during this pandemic.

Joeli Brearley, CEO and Founder Pregnant then Screwed continues, ‘What mothers are dealing with is taking place behind closed doors, we wanted to make the invisible, visible; to show politicians the impact their gender blind policy making was having on women. This cannot happen again, we cannot put mothers through this ever again.’

ENDS

For further press information or case studies from Pregnant Then Screwed please contact: [email protected]

Notes to Editor:

About

About Pregnant Then Screwed (www.pregnantthenscrewed.com) is a project and campaign which protects, supports and promotes the rights of mothers who suffer the effects of systemic, cultural, and institutional discrimination through our various schemes and activities, including: A free legal advice service, a website where women post their stories of discrimination anonymously, lobbying the Government for legislative change, and a mentor scheme that supports women who are considering legal action against their employer. Our free advice line for mothers can be contacted on: 01612229879