Letter to The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times printed an article on 5th June 2022 stating that some women were struggling to afford to go back to work after having children. It used the term ‘economically inactive.’ This is Anne Fennell’s letter to the editor in response.

Just maybe, mothers want to look after their children?

Sir, I’m writing in response to Tom Calver’s article that alarmingly the number of women not working to look after home or family has risen by 5%. Is it really such an alarming idea that a young mother may harbour a desire to care for her own infant or young child? Is this really a reverse of progress as Tom suggests? Or is it an awakening that despite years of negative downplaying of the role of caring at home mothers have discovered what Germaine Greer described as the ‘best-kept secret in the Western world’: ‘the immense rewardingness of children’.

Childcare costs are prohibitive but subsidised childcare is not necessarily the answer to relief from poverty. And what about the children? What is best for them?

 A wider debate is needed: how can we support families with more flexible approaches, putting children at the centre whilst valuing the work that goes into raising our next generation?

Yours,

Anne Fennell

Chair Mothers At Home Matter