Maternity Service by Emma Barnett review – baby steps

An energetic attempt to reimagine maternity leave swerves hard thinking about social reform

Something is rotten in the state of British motherhood. It starts during pregnancy: in September, a safety watchdog found conditions at nearly half of NHS maternity units to be inadequate. It continues after childbirth: last year, the UK’s maternal death rate reached a 20-year high; when babies are between six weeks and a year old, the leading cause of maternal death is suicide. It carries on at work: in one survey, 52% of women said they experienced some form of discrimination while pregnant or on maternity leave.

But reading Maternity Service, a slim new volume from BBC Today programme presenter Emma Barnett, you wouldn’t gather that anything was seriously amiss. At least, nothing a new mother armed with the right polo neck, stretchy trousers, hip playlist and a stiff beverage couldn’t gamely tackle.