Closing the Gender Pay Gap Through Maternity Coaching
Updated: Sep 29
Why maternity coaching matters if we want to close the gender pay gap
When people ask me why I started My Maternity Coach, my answer is always the same. I want to help close the gender pay gap. And after more than ten years in learning and development, and going through maternity leave myself, I'm convinced that the return to work after having a baby is one of the places where that gap quietly opens up.
What the gender pay gap actually is
The gender pay gap is the difference between what women and men earn on average across the whole workforce. It often gets mixed up with equal pay, which is about being paid the same for doing the same job, and that's been law in the UK for a long time.
The pay gap is bigger and messier. It's shaped by which roles and sectors women end up in, how few of us make it into senior positions, bias in hiring and promotion decisions, and caring responsibilities that still land mostly on women.
Where maternity leave comes in
Before children, the gap between men and women is fairly small. After the first baby arrives, it starts to widen, and it keeps widening for years.
I see why every week. A woman goes on leave with a clear career path and a great relationship with her manager. She comes back to a restructured team, a new manager who's never met her, and an inbox she can't face. She's running on four hours of sleep, doing the nursery drop off, watching the clock so she's not late for pick up.
While she was away, she missed the pay review. She missed the promotion round. She missed the conversations where people's names get mentioned for the next big project. None of that is anyone being deliberately unfair. It's just what happens when nobody is paying attention to that moment.
And the risk is real. Most women who leave after maternity leave do it within the first six months of coming back, and managers who haven't been trained to support returners are more likely to trigger those resignations. Every one of those women takes her skills, her experience and her earning potential with her.
So what is maternity coaching?
Maternity coaching is one to one support for women through the whole transition: before leave, during leave, and the return to work. It's a space to talk honestly about what's changed, what matters now, and what you want from your career.
In practice that might look like planning how to hand over and how to stay connected while you're away, working out how to use your KIT days well, rebuilding confidence after months out of the workplace, getting ready for the flexible working conversation, and figuring out who you are at work now that you're also someone's mum.
How it helps close the gap
It keeps careers moving. When women have a plan for leaving and a plan for coming back, they return with clarity instead of spending months trying to find their feet. Momentum matters, and coaching helps protect it.
It builds the confidence to ask. So many of the women I work with feel they should be grateful just to still have a job. Coaching helps them recognise their value and ask for what they need, whether that's a pay rise, a promotion or a working pattern that actually works.
It helps managers get it right. A huge part of whether a return goes well comes down to the line manager. That's why I also work with managers, so they know what to say, what not to say, and how to support someone properly without making it awkward.
It shows the whole team what you value. How a company handles pregnancy and the return to work sends a message to everyone watching, including the people who haven't started a family yet. When mothers with family friendly options return to work at 86%, compared with 42% where there's nothing in place, that message clearly lands.
If you're an employer, where do you start?
Listen first. Ask the people who've been through it what helped and what didn't. You'll learn a lot very quickly.
Bring in support. Work with someone who specialises in the maternity transition, alongside your HR team rather than instead of them.
Build it into your process. Make coaching and manager support a standard part of maternity leave, so it happens every time and doesn't depend on who someone's manager is.
Tell people it exists. Support that nobody knows about doesn't help anyone.
Measure it. Track return rates, retention at six and twelve months, and whether returners are being promoted at the same rate as everyone else.
Why this matters to me
Closing the gender pay gap needs lots of things to change, and maternity coaching is only one of them. But it's one that makes a real difference to real women, at a moment that shapes the rest of their careers.
I want every woman to come back to work feeling seen, supported and ready to keep growing. And I want every employer to see just how much they gain when they get this right.
If you'd like to talk about how this could work for your organisation, or for you, I'd love to hear from you.
