Working Mums, Happy Mother's Day!

What a gripping drama aired on BBC last week, the Replacement starring the talented Morven Christie as the architect about to start her maternity leave and the creepy Vicky McClure, her maternity cover “replacement”.

Personally, I remember having to hide my own pregnancy for fear of being sacked by my employer, a major recruitment company but when I did own up, (morning sickness does not agree with a two storey sprint up the stairs every time someone said Mac-muffin) I almost became invisible, getting excluded from nights out but, more importantly, client and internal meetings as you are just on the conveyor belt out the door as far as your bosses are concerned.

Morven is not only being pushed out before she’s ready but, chillingly made to feel like she’s losing her mind.

It did strike me that the age-old dilemma for working mums is still very much at the forefront of the working Mum’s experience, the guilt for wanting a career and being a mother.

• Seriously, has life got any easier for ‘Working Mums’?
• Do we still encounter hostility in the workplace?
• Why are there still so few women in leadership roles?
• Are we earning as much as our male counterparts?

According to the office of National Statistics, the gender pay difference has decreased significantly since 1997, when the gap for all employees was 27.5%, however, in April 2016 the gender pay gap for full-time employees decreased to 9.4%, from 9.6% the year before, so the gap is narrowing but not fast enough for many of us.

The juggling act goes on, the guilt we feel towards our work colleagues and the guilt towards our children all carries on, under the radar.

In my experience, the best ally at work is someone who’s also a Mum because she gets it. Even just as a sounding board, she won’t judge you because she’s been there.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, try to relax, enjoy the day and don’t feel guilty about all those jobs that are not getting done. Remember the words of Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”