Blog post by Giulia Bernacchi
Pregnant Then Screwed, a charity working to end systemic, cultural and institutional discrimination faced by thousands of pregnant women and mothers every year, have just started a new campaign, Save Our Nurseries!
Save Our Nurseries, specifically aims at raising awareness at the staggering rates of nursery losses throughout the UK. To further explain, the rates have increased due to the effects of the ongoing pandemic.
With the new year around the corner, it looks like more than a third of nurseries in the country’s most deprived communities are unlikely to re-open, meaning that 1 in 6 are set to close.
This crisis will not only negatively impact maternal employment, but also the younger generations by not giving them the educational support at such a crucial age.
In our Bristol City Listening Project we found that out of 75.8% of the women we interviewed wanted access to childcare and only 26.4% accessed free childcare spaces. The data showed that women across the city found child-care too expensive, located too far from their homes, and not available at their required times due to their own employability hours.
In our Impact of COVID-19 On Women in Bristol report, we concluded that the majority of women were tasked with more childcare work, often due to the societally prescribed roles. This created additional stress as women had to adapt to the Work from Home scheme as well as full-time parenting.
Unfortunately, starting in January, the government will not continue to fund ‘free’ places on the 16/30 hours scheme at pre-pandemic levels. You can support this campaign by to writing your MP here
