When I returned to pharmacy after having my child, I expected flexibility, understanding, and a smooth transition back into management. Instead, I faced limited options, a lack of part-time leadership roles, and the harsh reality that stepping back often meant becoming invisible and financially penalised. My experience is far from unique, and it highlights a pressing issue in our profession: we talk about being female-friendly, but the reality for parents returning to work is often very different.
Pharmacy is often described as a “female-friendly” profession. With around two-thirds of pharmacists in the UK being women (GPhC register data, 2026), it is widely assumed that it offers the flexibility needed to balance a career with family life.
But this perception does not always match reality. My own experience revealed just how difficult returning to work after having a child can be and how far the profession still has to go to truly support its workforce.
The Challenge of Returning to Management
Before becoming a parent, I had progressed into a management role. I was experienced, confident, and actively contributing to the profession.
On returning, however, I discovered that part-time or flexible management roles were simply not available. The choice became stark: return full-time in a role that no longer aligned with my circumstances, or step back. I stepped back.
The Hidden Cost of Stepping Back
Stepping away from management felt like a loss of identity. I went from leading and shaping practice to simply filling gaps. I felt invisible.
Alongside this came a financial cost. Reduced hours, lower pay, fewer opportunities for promotion, and a slower pension growth creates long-term consequences. Over time, this compounds into a permanent financial penalty for choosing to have a family.
Many returning pharmacists consider locum work as an alternative when flexible or part-time roles aren’t available. While it can offer flexibility, locuming also brings financial uncertainty, inconsistent hours, and instability, often making it impractical for parents juggling childcare costs and family commitments.
Despite women being the majority of pharmacists, only around a third of senior leadership roles are held by women, highlighting a disconnect between representation and progression, with financial inequality part of the picture (University of Birmingham, 2018).
A Workforce Issue
Returning parents, both women and men, can face similar challenges with inflexible working, limited part-time leadership roles, and barriers to progression. Supporting them is not just a “women’s issue”; it is a workforce issue. All parents deserve recognition, support, and fair opportunities to continue their careers without penalty.
Learning From Good Practice
There are examples of effective flexible working, job share arrangements, and supported return-to-work programmes within pharmacy. Where these exist, we should share them; where they don’t, we should challenge why and advocate for change. Flexibility, fairness, and support for parents should be standard, not optional.
What Needs to Change
- Normalise Job Share in Leadership Roles
Job share should be standard, not exceptional. Positions should be advertised to actively encourage part-time workers to apply, recognising that two experienced pharmacists sharing a role can bring complementary strengths, improve decision-making, and create sustainable leadership. - Make Flexible Working a Reality
Flexible working must move beyond policy and become embedded in practice. Predictable part-time roles, flexible shifts, and rota planning should genuinely support family life. - Provide Structured Support for Returning Parents
Employers should implement clear structures for pharmacists returning from maternity or caring breaks, including mentoring, tailored refresher training, and formal reintroduction to leadership responsibilities to ensure staff feel valued, confident, and able to progress. - Protect Role, Progression and Pay
Professionals returning to work should not be penalised for working fewer hours. Their responsibilities, progression opportunities, pay, promotion, and influence should remain fair, ensuring flexible working does not incur long-term career or financial setbacks. - Ensure Every Voice Is Heard
Returning professionals must have opportunities to contribute, lead, and influence the profession, rather than feeling invisible or side-lined. - Strengthen Collective Advocacy
The PDA Union plays a vital role in challenging poor practice, negotiating better conditions, and ensuring that fairness, flexibility, and financial equality are standard. By joining the PDA union, pharmacists gain a collective voice to shape workplace practices, advocate for fair treatment, and ensure returning parents are supported and valued.
A Call to Action
Pharmacy cannot continue to describe itself as female-friendly without addressing the lived reality of its workforce. Supporting those returning after having children is essential for retaining experienced pharmacists, strengthening teams, and delivering better patient care.
No one should feel they have to step back or become invisible because they have chosen to have a family. With the right changes, returning pharmacists can resume their careers with confidence, be recognised for their skills, and continue to lead and contribute without compromise.
In community, it’s clear the workload already requires more than one pharmacist per pharmacy to safely deliver existing services and those extra being added, including independent prescribing. Having a multi-pharmacist model will open up more options for flexibility too from the current situation where the singular Responsible Pharmacist must cover the operating hours.
Getting in touch
If members would like to share their stories around parenthood and working in pharmacy, they should get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Anyone needing employment advice around their rights as a parent should contact the PDA Member Support Centre.
Learn more
- GPhC registers data
- Lack of women in senior pharmacy roles, report shows – The Pharmacist
- Guide to: Discrimination and the pregnant employee
- Maternity leave – your options when it ends – Citizens Advice
- Child-friendly working hours – Maternity Action
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.