Net mums' co-founder Sally Russell said: "Research has shown that mothers are at their least happy stage in the first few years of bringing up children because they are so stressed and overworked.

If I was a CEO and I found people, predominantly but not totally mothers and parents of young children, deciding to leave at a certain stage in their life, I would say, 'Why are we losing the talent?'

Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development.