Current Affairs Round-up: Women in the workplace

I’m delighted to introduce myself as your new current affairs round-up editor. For those of you who don’t know me already, I’m Kate from The Less-Refined Mind, and I’m super excited to have taken over this role from the brilliant Sonya – big boots to fill but I’ll give it my best!

BritMums have kindly agreed to allow me to merge the current affairs theme with campaigns and causes, and there have been many of those in the news this month…

Ali at Kids Chaos wrote Eating for peace – Conflict Cafe, about the very topical issue of integration. A subject rarely out of the news for all the wrong reasons (as Hannah at Hi Baby Blog illustrates with her post about the Syrian crisis), this post shows that there is hope to be found if we look for it. Ali clearly embraces positivity, also writing Bags Creating Jobs For the Homeless, over at A Greener Life For Us.

There’s also been much in the headlines about family issues, including  the cessation of the Concentrix contract. Lucy from The Parenting Game penned this piece which includes a handy template letter for you to print and post to your local MP should you wish to voice your concerns.

On the subject of tax credits, Katie at Mummy in a Tutu wrote about her experiences and had her post picked up by the BBC! Well done Katie.

While we’re talking about the government, can we take a moment to reflect on the hypocrisy of attitudes surrounding childless women? Katie at The Squirmy Popple shared her thoughts by asking the question Would Alex Salmond Have Been First Minister if He’d Had Children? And  Jess at Mrs Helicopter Writes chimed in with her opinion that Nobody Needs to Know if You Want Kids. Hear hear – well said ladies.

Which leads me nicely onto discrimination in the workplace. It’s shocking this is still a topic of conversation in Britain in 2016; alas that’s the reality. Sherry from The Confident Mother was invited onto Sky News to be interviewed by Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster on Wednesday 14 September to discuss the launch of the ‘Working Forward’ campaign. It’s a fantastic new – and sadly necessary – initiative, and you can catch up on all the latest with Sherry’s post Working Forward to End Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination. Having experienced it myself (which you can read about in my post Passive Pregnancy Discrimination), I can’t applaud this enough.

Still on the theme of women in the workplace, Mrs H at Happy Mummy was also discussing the lack of recognition mothers get for their role in the home! Naturally, this can apply equally to stay/work at home dads too, but pedantry aside, the post makes a solid point.

I can’t help but wonder whether all of these issues contribute to the very real problem of PND – and the more common but less well-know issue of Postnatal Anxiety. This month saw PND awareness week, and Lucy at Mrs H’s Favourite Things wrote a powerful post describing her personal experiences and promoting the message It’s Okay Not to Be Okay.

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of parenting is being overloaded with conflicting information, of which our job is to sift through and make judgement calls which will potentially effect the wellbeing of our children. One such issue is the debate over the usage of vitamins, which Cardigan at Teddy Bears and Cardigans discusses in her post Do we need Vitamin D supplements?

Phew, that’s been a rather gloomy selection of posts! Alas, my job is merely to bring the news to you (how much nicer it would be if I could choose what was in the headlines). With that in mind, I want to end my first round-up post on a positive note, and I have the perfect topic with which to do so…

We all know the value of bloggers and our wonderful collective strength; and on 30th September, bloggers united in the name of a very worthy cause. #BloggersBeatingCancer saw bloggers convene for a virtual coffee morning to to help raise funds for Bart’s Charity and Macmillan.

At the time of writing, the amount raised has fallen just shy of the £1000 target. If you’d like to contribute you can do so here.

You may also be aware of the #FeelSuper campaign being promoted in Superdrug stores across the UK in support of Marie Curie. I attended an event for the campaign which is equally worthwhile, and if you’d like to know more you can read my post #FeelSuper and Help Marie Curie with Frankie Bridge and P&G.

With thanks to all who submitted posts this month. If you have anything relevant for the next one, please feel free to email me or tweet me @LessRefinedMind.