ABSTRACT
This chapter explains my own professional learning I gained from having experienced pregnancy and becoming a mother during my work in Gaza and elsewhere. It explains the personal challenges I faced by continuing to work in the aid sector after becoming a parent. It also discusses the challenges of writing about aid workers’ needs as parents, considering the vast diversity of staff, both working nationally and internationally in every country of the world, the socioeconomic inequalities they face, and hierarchies present in the aid sector. This chapter also looks at the different changes and reforms needed in the aid sector and how speaking about the needs of mothers and parents fits within that agenda. It goes into some detail about the different challenges faced by mothers and those wishing to become mothers working in the aid sector and emphasises the need for work–life balance that would benefit all staff. The chapter also explains the methodology used in writing the book and sets out its structure. Finally, it clarifies terminology used in the sector that can be seen as problematic by many readers.
