Motherhood Penalties
Motherhood penalties are the implications women face for having children. Women should have the right to want a family whilst also achieving equal career opportunities and pay. However, challenges limit these rights, with rising cost of living, gender pay gap, childcare costs, and workplace discrimination.
This project explores the pressures put on mothers and communities living in underdeveloped suburban towns, where there is unequal access to services, employment, childcare and social space due to lack of transport infrastructure and investment in the areas. Set in Brierfield, a post-industrial town in Pendle, the project explores the impacts of high street decline and how small town interventions and feminist regeneration can provide efficient local services, revive the highstreet, improve the lives of the community and allow more mothers to access employment.
The locals of Brierfield face high levels of deprivation and unemployment, whilst there is a lack of integration between the Pakistani and White British community. The establishment of the new community hub and improvement to the public realm creates a chance for locals to have a space they can thrive from and promotes healthy community connections.
The community hub re-introduces a market focused on re-use retail, an employment and childcare centre allowing more mothers to access work, and a community centre packed with a café, women only gym and hall.
The project also incorporates sustainable strategies such as renewable energy sources, natural and recycled materials, and is designed so the centre is easy to deconstruct so materials can be reused in the future.
