Emma Barnett is on a mission to reframe motherhood. More specifically, she’s reframing the crucial 52 weeks taken by employed women after they give birth, otherwise known as maternity leave. It’s the second part of that phrase that Barnett takes issue with. “Maternity leave…” she muses. “I think the word ‘service’ is more accurate.”
Barnett, 41, is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and author. You may know her from her time hosting Radio 4’s Women’s Hour, or more recently as one of the presenters of the Today programme. But she’s also a mum of two, after many years of trying to get pregnant and seven rounds of IVF. It was while she was at home after the birth of her second child, on what she calls her ‘second tour of duty’, that she finally felt able to reflect on all that she had seen, heard, learned, and suffered in the process of becoming a mother. What started as a stream of consciousness eventually became her new book: Maternity Service.
