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London has been swarming with protests over the last week, whether it’s the kids in Tower Hamlets fighting to save their school street or Just Stop Oil causing civil unrest to demand action on climate change, everybody has got something to protest about right now. The families of people killed in police custody in the UK (the United Friends and Families Campaign) also rallied on Saturday, marching to Downing Street.
Now, even the babies are angry. Thousands of protesters (which included infants in papooses) gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for the March of the Mummies protest against the cost of childcare in the UK.
The campaign group behind the march, Pregnant Then Screwed, is demanding government reform on childcare for all, properly paid parental leave and flexible working as the default. On its website, the group writes that the UK has the ‘second most expensive childcare system in the world due to years of government underfunding’. It also reveals that mothers face a pay penalty of 45 percent lower earnings in the six years after giving birth and that the gender pay gap widened during the pandemic.
As the protest took place on Halloween weekend, organisers gave the protest a seasonal rebrand as ‘March of the Mummies’ and encouraged fancy dress among protesters. Though the cause of the march is a serious subject matter, the marches are family-friendly events for all, with face painting and music.
The first March of the Mummies took place on October 31 2017, across six UK cities, including London, plus one city in California. The demonstration demanded recognition, respect and action for working mums and dads.
Pregnant Then Screwed was founded on International Women’s Day 2015, after founder Joeli Brearley was sacked from her job via voicemail two days after she informed her employer that she was pregnant with her first child.
Speaking at the London March of the Mummies, Brearley urged the crowd to force the government to pay attention to mothers.
‘We need to force them to listen,’ she said. ‘When the policymakers finally do something, they’ll pretend it was all their idea, but we will remember this moment.’
Check out pictures from the March of the Mummies protest on Saturday.
ICYMI: Kids in Tower Hamlets are protesting at the destruction of their ‘school street’.