About this episode

Rebecca Robertson interviews Elizabeth Willetts about the hidden financial costs of motherhood and the challenges women face in the workforce.

In this episode, I sit down with Elizabeth Willetts, founder of Investing in Women and author of Flex. We talk through her career from recruitment in the City to building a business that helps women find flexible, part-time work that fits around their lives. Elizabeth is honest about the parts we usually keep quiet. Being made redundant while pregnant. The years of trying for a baby. And the financial cost of motherhood that follows women around for decades. We get into the numbers, too, including how far earnings can drop in the first five years after a first child and what that does to the pension gap later on. If you have ever felt the system was set up against you or wondered why flexible work is so hard to find at a senior level, this is a conversation worth your time. This is Part 1 of two. Part 2 comes out on Monday, so do subscribe to be notified. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:30 Welcome and meet Elizabeth Willetts 2:39 Starting out in City recruitment 6:52 Money, independence and motherhood 9:39 Why recruitment is really sales 15:20 Leaving the City to retrain 17:51 Struggling to conceive 20:04 Miscarriage and the grief no one talks about 22:35 The gender pay gap and…

People in this episode

Host: Rebecca Robertson

Guest: Elizabeth Willetts

Topics covered

• motherhood
• flexible work
• gender pay gap
• career challenges
• financial impact of motherhood
• work-life balance

Keywords

• motherhood costs
• flexible work
• gender pay gap
• career
• financial independence
• IVF
• part-time work

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Investing in Women

Books & works: Flex

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