Following the delightful news earlier this week that Chelsea forward Sam Kerr and her West Ham fiancée Kristie Mewis are expecting a baby in 2025, it brings to light a topic that is not widely spoken about within women’s football: the difficult art of balancing life as a professional footballer and motherhood.
Pregnancies amongst elite sportswomen are beginning to become more normalised, but according to an eye-opening British sports study, a third of UK sportswomen admitted that they had delayed starting a family due to the demands of their career and more than a third of participants felt unsupported by their club or governing body to have a baby and continue in their line of employment (BBC Sport, March 2024). When motherhood is a desirable and viable option for many women, why should being a professional footballer prevent this dream from becoming a reality?
“I don’t think women’s football is ready for women to be pregnant.”
Several footballers within the WSL and Championship have called for better guidelines for new mothers regarding pay, support and maternity conditions. Former Reading captain Emma Mukandi spoke about the difficulties she faced when she became pregnant in 2021, stating on an Off the Ball podcast that she faked injury at the beginning of her pregnancy due to no maternity policies existing in her contract, had to breast pump in a cupboard since returning and was excluded from having her child onsite due to club policy. Former England and Everton forward Toni Duggan, who recently announced her retirement from the game, admitted that one of her greatest challenges when she found out she was pregnant was having to hide it from her team, citing “it’s not so common in our environment for this [pregnancy] to happen so, that was quite tough initially” (BBC Sport, November 2022). In 2022, the FA introduced a proposal making it mandatory for professional players to receive 14 weeks full pay within a maternity policy. Whilst this may sound good in principle, especially considering that UK statutory maternity pay grants 90% of weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks then £184.03 or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lowest) for the next 33 weeks, in practice this support is minimal. When you consider that the most crucial part of these women’s jobs are their bodies, it seems unrealistic to expect them to return to such a high intensity physical job so soon after their body goes through the massive strain of childbirth. Mukandi has criticised this policy, expressing “who has even come up with that? Surely not someone who has played football and had a baby. Is it a man?” The Scotland international pointed out the grey areas within this strategy, bringing to light the disparity between finances at different clubs. “If you’re at Arsenal or Chelsea or Man City and you’ve got loads of money, great facilities... having a baby there is not an issue at all but I think the lower down the league you go it’s easier for club CEOs to be like ‘No, this isn’t happening’. I don’t think there is enough stuff in place to make women think they could do it [have a baby]”.
Pictured above: Emma Mukandi welcomes her first child.
In comparison to English football, in other countries such as the USA there are several high-profile players who are also mothers - Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn all became mothers since winning the 2019 World Cup. The NWSL in the United States offers better maternity regulations, with 6 months of full pay maternity leave and supplementary support during pregnancy. Furthermore, this summer Italian giants AC Milan made headlines as the first European club to guarantee automatic contract renewal for footballers who become pregnant in the final year of their contract. They have also assured players that they will receive help with childcare and expenses – a big push for working towards a sporting environment that protects and prioritises both the professional and personal wellbeing of athletes who wish to become mothers. It is also important to consider the support available from clubs for non-birth mothers and understanding that no two pregnancies look the same. Newcastle United defender Demi Stokes, who was part of England’s Euro 2022 winning squad, has been open about her experience of motherhood as a non-birth mother. In an interview with her then club Manchester City, Stokes spoke about feeling anxiety due to not being in control of the situation, and admitting the pressure felt over deciding whose egg to use in same sex partnerships. Motherhood looks different for everyone, and the journey of same-sex parenthood can be difficult enough to navigate without the added pressures of juggling being a mother and full-time professional football in an environment not yet able to adequately provide such support.
Pictured above: Demi Stokes and Toni Duggan with their children.
Financial constraints, childcare responsibilities, and structural barriers within the workplace are some of the key hurdles preventing female footballers successfully balancing motherhood and a
demanding full-time job in sport. However, the physical challenges of returning to play post-pregnancy are significantly different to challenges faced by male footballers when they become fathers. Studies into pregnancy hormones have shown that the hormone relaxin, which loosens ligaments and joints, is elevated during pregnancy and worryingly could increase the risk potential for injuries (The Guardian, August 2023). There is currently not enough investment into the research of guidance for elite athletes training during pregnancy and postpartum, and perhaps like investigations into ACL injuries in women’s football, greater research could better assist the future implementation of preventative matters to tackle injuries affecting female footballers.
“For as long as I can remember, I thought I would have to hang up the boots to start a family.”
Additionally, women in sport often face societal pressure of the responsibility to be ‘good mothers’ in a manner that weighs higher in expectations than those placed on footballers who are fathers. This often leading to internalised guilt and pressure those who want to return to their workplace post-partum. West Ham and Australia midfielder Katrina Gorry returned to professional football just three months after giving birth to her daughter in August 2021. Gorry amazingly made the decision during the Covid-19 pandemic to become a solo parent via IVF, expressing that being a mother was “all she thought and dreamed about” when interviewed as part of Matildas: The World at Our Feet documentary series released in 2023. However, she didn’t believe a career in football and motherhood would be compatible, admitting: “For as long as I can remember, I thought I would have to hang up the boots to start a family.". It is hard to believe that any male footballer would have these same worries about parenthood, and so it again reveals a gendered divide of expectation and responsibility weighing on mothers compared to fathers.
Pictured above: Katrina Gorry and her partner Clara Markstedt with their two children, Harper and Koby.
It can reasonably be deduced that barriers felt by mothers or those wishing to become mothers are largely attributed to the lack of female-led representation within decision making posts in professional football. The pressure for women to bounce back to the same level post-partum, or to take minimal time off, is inconducive to fostering a supportive sporting environment, and can lead to unrealistic expectations from staff, fans and players themselves. With a growing number of footballers within English clubs becoming pregnant, clubs and governing bodies should continue to prioritise implementing policies and protection that provide women with the reassurance of knowing they can practically, financially and emotionally balance two full times jobs: football and motherhood.
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