Joeli Brearley is a champion for pregnant women and working mothers. She is the Founder and CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS) and author of The Truth About The Motherhood Penalty. She set up the campaign group in 2015 after experiencing appalling maternity discrimination and realising her experience was not unique: two days after telling her employer she was pregnant with her first child, Joeli was sacked from her job by voicemail. She was four months pregnant and unemployed. Worried about the mounting bills, she thought about taking legal action but hers was a high-risk pregnancy and stress could bring on early labour. She could not bring a case later as the time limit to bring a claim was just three months, something she was determined to change.
PTS was launched on International Women’s Day in 2015 as a place for mothers to share their stories. It has grown exponentially and in 2022, she organised a national protest called ‘March of the Mummies’ attended by thousands of parents to demand Government reform of childcare, parental leave and flexible working.
Labour MP Analiese Dodds announced at the 2023 Labour party conferenced that the party would extend that time limit on legal action.
In October 2023, PTS won best social purpose campaign at the PR Awards.