15.01.18
European Commission - Self-employed workers and groups of workers in new forms of atypical employment do not have sufficient access to or are excluded from social protection. MMM has participated to convey the needs of mothers.
In many Member States there are groups of employed people, particularly in new forms of non-standard employment (work other than full time, open-ended employment) and self- employed, who are left without sufficient effective access to social protection benefits and employment services or are even excluded. It is estimated that up to 50% of these people who are left without sufficient access to social protection benefits (ex: unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, maternity leave, disability benefits, pensions, etc.) and employment services (ex: training, career counselling).
A public consultation on ‘Access to social protection in the framework of the European Pillar for Social rights initiative was included in the Commission’s Work Programme for 2017 as a response to deal with these concerns. MMM has participated to convey the needs of mothers which prefer to have employee status as opposed to self-employment precisely due to the insufficient access to social protection benefits and services. We also highlighted the need to legally recognize unpaid family care work as being a particular category of work giving access to social protection to caregivers who are mainly mothers.
The purpose of the consultation is to gather further views of interested stakeholders on the challenges, options, impacts and the development and implementation of a range of possible tools at EU-level that could be used in the design of an initiative at EU level.
28.08.25
On 22 September 2025, the voices of mothers will take centre stage in Brussels. For the first time, Make Mothers Matter (MMM) will present its State of Motherhood in Europe
03.07.25
Belgian mothers are facing a mental health crisis. According to the State of Motherhood in Europe 2024 survey by Make Mothers Matter (MMM) and Kantar, Belgium reports the highest rates
13.01.26
Wednesday 28 January 2026 | 15:15 – 17:30 GMT London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) – Live broadcast #MaternalWellbeingLSE Maternal mental health is one of the most pressing
16.03.26
Make Mothers Matter (MMM) responded to the Public Consultation on the European Commission’s upcoming Skill Portability Initiative. We submitted a paper outlining our views and provided feedback on the need to
10.03.26
Make Mothers Matter was invited by ETUI to its event: “Gender matters at work: Making the invisible visible” to discuss the issue of motherhood at work in the European Union. During the discussion, we argue
10.03.26
Make Mothers Matter welcomes the publication of the new EU Gender Equality Strategy by the European Commission. The strategy reflects several priorities that MMM has long advocated for, particularly the recogni
23.02.26
The European Parliament has adopted its Resolution on a new EU Anti-Poverty Strategy for 2025–2026, following joint work by the EMPL and FEMM Committees. This marks a significant political milestone in the fi
28.11.25
Across Europe, mothers carry out vast amounts of unpaid care work that keeps families and societies functioning—yet much of this labour remains largely invisible in EU policy. A new study shared with Make Mot
27.11.25
The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the amendment of the European Electoral act, allowing Members to vote in plenary by proxy voting during pregnancy and after giving birth. The proposal