Mother Pukka: Bringing The Flex Appeal

If you’re the proud owner of a little human, then we’re pretty sure you’ve already stumbled across the empowering force that is Mother Pukka.

Created as a frank, honest safe haven for “people (like her) who just happen to be parents” Anna Whitehouse, the woman behind the award winning blog Mother Pukka, was part of the first wave of ‘mumflunecers’ causing a stir across the previously sterile world of parenting.

Born out of a desire for a change following the birth of her first born, Mae, in 2015, Anna Whitehouse and her Mother Pukka pseudonym, have since gone on to become voice of a new generation of mothers who are no longer satisfied with how they have been represented and treated in the work place.

But it’s her groundbraking Flex Appeal campaign that really makes Anna stand out from the rest. Encouraging people (specifically parents) to talk to their employer about flexible working and breaking away from the typical 9 to 5 , Anna and fellow influencer husband Matt (@PapaPukka) have been tirelessly spreading their Flex Appeal message across the county via everything from flash mobs to an appearance at 10 Downing Street.

Keen to find our more, we sat down with the Heart FM presenter herself to discover exactly what makes Mother Pukka such a force to be reckoned with.

HI ANNA, WE’VE BEEN BIG FANS OF YOU AND YOUR BLOG FOR A WHILE NOW. FOR OUR READERS WHO AREN’T AS FAMILIAR WITH IT, COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MOTHER PUKKA?

I originally trained to be a barrister, and remember being at Devereaux Chambers and not being able to see a lot of women at the top. At that point I wasn’t sure I could see a way through on this path. I was only 22 and I knew I wanted to have kids, so there was quite a lot of forethought, but I wasn’t sure I could sustain a career that I knew might end in a blockade. I realised I might want to challenge the system, rather than be part of it. So I stepped away to become a journalist and I’ve been asking questions ever since.

MANY INFLUENCERS CLAIM TO BE SURPRISED BY THEIR FOLLOWING. WHEN MOTHER PUKKA STARTED TO GAIN TRACTION WERE YOU SURPRISED, OR HAD THIS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF THE PLAN?

I always had to make Mother Pukka work, because I quit my career for it. So there was a really primitive, maternal instinct that set in which said; I can’t be taking time away from my children without it paying off. So there had to be an income, there had to be strategy and a business plan. It couldn’t be a side hustle, it was the main event. In terms of the following – I wasn’t necessarily surprised, because I had two years of grafting, working 24/7. I had a 9-5 job, came home, picked up the kids, put them to bed and then got straight on the computer to build what has now become Mother Pukka. So I suppose ‘surprised’ isn’t the right word, it was more of an acceptance because it simply wouldn’t work unless I gained some traction. 

YOUR FLEX APPEAL CAMPAIGN IS ABOUT ENCOURAGING EMPLOYERS TO ALLOW PARENTS FLEXIBLE WORKING. WE KNOW MANY WOMEN WHO HAVE STRUGGLED WITH WORK SINCE HAVING KIDS, OFTEN HAVING TO LEAVE THEIR ROLES BECAUSE THEIR EMPLOYERS WERE JUST NOT WILLING TO PROVIDE FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS. IS THIS SOMETHING YOU YOURSELF HAVE EXPERIENCED?

I was working at a leading beauty brand and my flexible working request was rejected for fear that it would open to floodgates to others seeking flexible working, and that was when I quit. The moment I posted on Instagram to say ‘today I quit’ (I had 63 followers at the time), I had around 140 comments, so it had gone outside of my organic network, and that was when I realised I definitely wasn’t alone here.

YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT ALONE. WHAT’S BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN SO FAR?

I think the proudest moment was when we delivered evidence to the Welsh Assembly on a link between flexible working and the gender pay gap, and how maternity discrimination feeds into that. It felt like such a huge opportunity to pool together all of the voices and frustrations that I’d heard behind the scenes from those following the campaign, and be able to actually ‘put it somewhere’. We were no longer just talking to an echo chamber, and the week after that, flexible working was pinpointed as the primary way to close the gender pay gap in Wales. I just thought ok, this is a start – let’s do this. 

AN AMAZING ACHIEVEMENT. HOW ABOUT YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE?

The biggest challenges were before the gender pay gap reporting. I felt I was looked at as just this woman shouting on the street saying ‘do this, it’s a great thing, it’s good for business’. I had all the stats, I could back up everything I was saying but I wasn’t being listened to up to that point. The day that the reporting came out, I had an influx of emails from comms departments from the very companies that had kept their doors firmly closed to me. That was went I went from feeling like the world actually is changing, and I can help these companies to adapt so there’s nothing to fear, and that’s when things shifted.

DO YOU THINK WE WILL EVER BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THE PERFECT WORK/LIFE BALANCE?

I actually don’t think calling it a work/life balance works. I think it all comes down to trust and a shift in the way businesses see themselves working in a more human way. So many of us are stuck in the capitalist hamster wheel, but when those at the top step outside of the wheel, they’re able to see that empowering people to work in a way that isn’t dictating where and when they work, but allowing them to decide, actually ends up being better for business. It’s much better if a hamster is able to have a run around in a rotastak, rather than going round and round the same tiny wheel – you just don’t get the best out of people that way.

WHAT WE CAN IF OUR EMPLOYERS ARE REFUSING TO GIVE US THE FLEXIBILITY WE NEED TO BOTH WORK AND LOOK AFTER OUR KIDS?

People can definitely wield the gender pay gap reporting at employers. There are very few companies that wouldn’t want to fix that and not have their dirty laundry aired in public (as it were). I would also say to consistently be thinking about what’s best for you and best for the business. Don’t wait until you’re broken to ask for what you need. Pre-empt it, put your case forward in the most powerful way you can, perhaps ask if a trial period is possible if they’re still refusing, and then prove them wrong.

ITS’ ALL ABOUT THE DIRTY LAUNDRY! DO YOU HAVE AN ULTIMATE END GAME FOR FLEX APPEAL?

The start of this was a human being broken by a system that I don’t feel has been challenged enough. A working world that was set in the industrial revolution. So the end goal will remain ‘human’ - in a place where I feel that all the support and encouragement I’ve given to my two girls, regardless of what they want to do with their lives, I just want to know that I’ve done everything I can to make sure that when they go into the workforce, they won’t have the same heavy oak door slammed in her face that I had.

YOU WERE VERY OPEN ABOUT YOUR STRUGGLE WITH CONCEPTION AND SUBSEQUENCE MISCARRIAGES BEFORE THE BIRTH OF YOUR SECOND CHILD. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WOMAN GOING THROUGH A SIMILAR THING?

Don’t let trying stop you from living. My husband and I became very consumed by what happened, so I think that whether you’re going through IVF, whether you feel completely alone and you simply don’t know how to communicate it – whatever it may be, just don’t let it stop you from living your life.

YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND ‘PAPA PUKKA’ WROTE THE SUNDAY TIMES BEST SELLER ‘PARENTING THE SH*T OUT OF LIFE’. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 PARENTING TIPS?

I have no tips! The book is simply there to help you laugh more than you cry 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MOTHER PUKKA?

Continuing with Flex - that is a huge focus going forward, and myself and Matt have written our second book ‘Where’s My Happy Ending’ which explores the question of whether love and relationships could be simpler, or more complex than we think, and what it really means to find and keep love today.

‘Where's My Happy Ending?: Happily Ever After and How The Heck to Get There’ by Anna Whitehouse and Matt Farquharson is available for order on amazon now!