Episode 63 - Business, Babies and Broken Systems: How We Trap Parents in Poverty with Grace Carte...

Send us Fan Mail (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2124748/fa...) What if becoming a parent is one of the quickest ways into poverty even with a “good” job or thriving business? On Earth Your While, Jack and Ellie talk to Grace Carter, entrepreneur, founder of The Metamorphose Group and campaigner behind End Parenting Poverty. After her second daughter’s birth in 2023, Grace was running a 15‑person agency while facing debt, a mental health crisis and clients walking away… just as the government was talking up “female entrepreneurship” but still underpaying new mothers. Grace exposes how the system labels maternity pay a “health and safety payment”, keeps it far below the national living wage, and bakes discrimination against mothers into contracts, student loans and pensions. From multiple miscarriages and isolation as a leader to petitioning Parliament and giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee, she shares the personal cost and the policy shifts needed to end parenting poverty. Topics covered include: • Why we shouldn't accept statutory maternity pay being below the national living wage • The hidden debt, mental health impacts and loneliness behind "doing it all" • How self-employed women and founders fall through the cracks of maternity support • Why flexible work, real empathy and lived experience leadership are good for business • What happened when Grace's petition hit 100,000 signatures and reached Westminster • Practical steps employers can take to help end parenting poverty Music by Stock_Studio (https://pixabay.com/users/stock_studi...) from Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_sourc...) .