Summer Evening 2025#Event 6: 11 September 2025

Anne Fennell - Mothers at Home Matter

This talk will explore the developmental needs of young children, the politics of parenting, the ideas that govern us, and the economics which limit our freedom to choose the way we care.

 

Anne Fennell - Chair, Mothers at Home Matter

Anne Fennell is a wife and mother at home of six sons. When her first son was born she gasped. Seeing this new being took her breath away. She felt a huge surge of love. The experience of connection is unique, powerful and transformative; yet the average mother no longer has the freedom to care for her baby herself full time.

Anne is Chair of the national organisation Mothers at Home Matter and President of the International European Federation of Parents and Carers at Home. Both organisations advocate for a deeper understanding of children’s developmental needs, work to raise the status and esteem of mothers who care full-time at home, and campaign for fairer family taxation and economic policies that give families real choices.

Mothers at Home Matter was set up over 30 years ago in the face of pressure for mothers to return to work before they or their children were ready. That pressure has increased over time.