As the rain bounced off the pavement outside Manchester Central Library this morning, loud cheers could be heard echoing from St Peter's Square.
Hundreds of parents - mostly mothers and their friends - braved the wet weather to come together and demand better childcare affordability and accessibility in the UK.
Signs and banners saying 'childcare is not a luxury' and 'mat leave is not a holiday' could be seen populating the square as speakers took to the stage to share their own experiences of being pushed out of work due to the eye-watering cost of childcare.
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The protest, which was organised by the charity Pregnant then Screwed, aimed to demonstrate about expensive childcare and poor paternity benefits, which is part of a situation they say is leading too many women of childbearing age to drop out of the workforce.
They called for increased funding for the childcare sector so that high quality and affordable care is available for children, and for maternity and paternity to be ring-fenced and properly paid.
It comes as one woman told the M.E.N she has been forced to cut down her working hours and change jobs to make sure she can care for her young son, and nurseries across the region warned they are facing a crisis point.
Rebecca Hainsworth, 34, travelled to the protest from Hebden Bridge to demand more affordable childcare as she spoke of difficult conversations about whether to give up work.
"The cost of childcare in this country is horrendous," she said. "I've got so many friends who have had to give up work. Me and my husband constantly have conversations about whether one of us should stop working.
"My husband basically works to cover our childcare costs. Statutory maternity puts so many families into poverty because you're left with a choice to live on nothing. It's just a mess.
"It's just a mad situation we have in this country and it doesn't help our children who are the future. Nursery workers get paid pittance for what they do which is amazing work."
Nicola Kenny, from Chorlton, had a baby a year and a half ago and claims she experienced maternity discrimination by her previous employer.
"Luckily now I'm in a brilliant job that are really supportive but flexible working is key to supporting mothers coming back from maternity," she said.
"I believe that with more support you'll get more out of people as well. That and paternity as well. New mums not having that support when their partners go back after two weeks is really hard.
"Childcare costs are absolutely ridiculous. I worked it out the other day and for five years for one child it's about £70,000.
"My son is in a brilliant nursery but they are having to stack four children to one teacher and it's just too much for them. They are doing the best they can but they are under a lot of pressure."
Hayley James, from Wilmslow, doesn't have children of her own but came to the protest in support of friends and family who 'have faced discrimination' after having kids.
"I have seen so many women I know having to choose between having a career and a family and their husband and partners don't have to make that choice, it's a gender issue," she said.
"We have talented, creative, highly skilled people who cannot get into work because the support just does not exist and that's an absolute outrage in 2022. It's inexplainable."
Sharon Amesu said she wouldn't have been able to support her daughter and pursue a career in the legal profession without her family, as she called for more affordable childcare.
"Today was a day to bring together people from around this city to talk about issues women in particular are experiencing in the work place - effectively having to be removed from the work force because they can't afford to work," she said.
"24 years ago when I was embarking on my legal career as a barrister I fell pregnant and it was a real quandary because of the employment situation and it was quite frightful actually I had real questions as to whether I would be able to pursue my career.
"What was significant for me at the time in saving my career was if it wasn't for the support of my family, childcare would have just been impossible for me. I know the importance of having affordable childcare which enables everyone to thrive."
Joeli Brearley, founder and chief executive of Pregnant Then Screwed, said mothers would come together to protest because they're fed up with an 'unaffordable, inaccessible, dysfunctional childcare sector'.
Ms Brearley said: "We want urgent progress on women's rights. It's the 21st century, yet 54,000 mothers are being pushed out of the workforce every year for simply daring to procreate."
She added: "The childcare sector is in a mess. Thousands of nurseries have collapsed this year alone. We have had enough."
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