Joeli Brearley is the founder of the charity and campaign group, Pregnant Then Screwed which she established in 2015 after her own experience of pregnancy discrimination. She writes for the Telegraph, is the winner of the Sheila McKenzie: Campaigner of the Year 2021 award, the Northern Power Women: Agent for Change award, is an Amnesty International Human Rights Defender, a member of the United Nations Working Group: Women’s Human Rights in the Changing World of Work and is one of British Vogue’s 25 most influential women of 2021. In January 2021 she took the Government to court for indirect sex discrimination due to the way self employed mothers were being financially penalised by the income support scheme.
Her debut book: ”Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth about the Motherhood Penalty’’ was published by Simon & Schuster on the 4th March 2021.
Why we believe Joeli is a trailblazerFor her activism to end the motherhood penalty. Joeli campaigns for issues that impact pregnant women and working mums, offers training for those who have been made redundant through discrimination as well as free advice for those being discriminated against.