Women across Britain are holding a collective breath right now. And Allison Pearson, columnist for the Daily Mail , is not exempt. Like thousands of other working mothers, she's holding her breath for September, when the school holidays are finally up.

"The summer holidays are a working mother's nightmare,"she laughs. "You can usually fill two weeks of them with a family vacation, then one or two more with grandparents and summer camps, but the rest of the time is… interesting. I'm usually writing my column with my foot jammed against the door to stop the children coming in!”

Pearson knows about work-life balance. Together with being a working mother of two, and one of Britain's strongest advocates on flexible working conditions for women, she's written a bestselling novel on the subject which sold two million copies worldwide, and was dubbed a 'bible for the working mother' by Oprah.

In fact, such was the reaction to Kate, Pearson's heroine in her sharply observed and hilariously written 'I don't know how she does it' in 2002, that she's still getting letters from working mothers now, telling her their stories – some of which are hilarious, and some that are 'just very, very sad'.

It was these stories that prompted Pearson to get involved in Working Families, a charity organisation that has been fighting to make the workplace a fair and balanced environment for 20 years. Pearson helps fundraise for the organisation and speaks at their seminars – the latest of which is being held at Coutts' head office in September.

She'll be talking about flexible working policies which she believes can make a real difference to people's lives. "I spent a lot of time with working women before and after my novel, and found that they were caught on this terrible, punishing treadmill where they weren't able to be either really good employees or the best kind of mum.

"The reason women are instigating more divorces now is because they can't cope, and have realised that the husband is the one thing they can jettison."

"And the things that came up again and again about what they needed to improve their lives was flexibility. It is one practical thing we can do to make everything much, much better,"she insists.

While UK policies have improved since 2002, with 47% of new mothers working flexi-time today compared to just 17% back then, Britain was still lagging behind the rest of Europe in a report last year. It revealed that only 48 per cent of companies are offering flexible working options, compared to 90 per cent across the rest of mainland Europe.

And families are the ones who are suffering as a result, according to Pearson. "I personally think a lot of the reason women are instigating more divorces now is because they can't cope, and have realised that the husband is the one thing they can jettison,"she insists.

"Women were caught on this terrible, punishing treadmill where they weren't able to be either really good employees or the best kind of mum."

In May, the government finally took a stand, announcing plans to extend flexible working rights to all parents with children under the age of 16, rather than just to those with disabled children or to kids under the age of six. If all goes ahead, it will give an extra 4.5 million parents the right to request flexible working hours, adding to the 14 million believed to be working flexibly across Britain today.

Pearson is one of those, admitting she's 'lucky' to have a column and work from home these days because life wasn't always as easy.

Starting her national journalistic career as a TV critic on The Independent on Sunday in 1992, she worked long hours writing for the Telegraph and the Evening Standard , where she won numerous awards, before moving to the Daily Mail in 2005, taking over from the legendary Lynda Lee-Potter, who passed away the year before.

It was during those earlier years that Pearson began noticing all her female friends with young children were 'absolutely knackered'. "We had been promised this thing called 'having it all', where we'd have this career and be able to be a mum, and were all wondering 'Is this how it's meant to be?' We were tearing around, had no time for ourselves, and were just a generation of very tired and stressed out women.”

Though her book clearly caught the zeitgeist and was celebrated by women world-wide, writing it skewed her work-life balance even further. "I had to try to find time to write it in the few hours of spare time I actually had. And when we were on Oprah, my daughter said to the producer on camera 'Well, mummy had even less time to play with me when she was writing her book,"she hoots.

Six years on, Pearson is just finishing her second book, a 'hymn to female friendship' which also touches on the commercial manipulation of teenagers. But it's the film of 'I don't know how she does it' that women are most excited about, which suffered a setback when one of the main people driving it, Sydney Pollack, died in recent months.

Until it's finished, fans will have to be content with a collection of 'best stories about juggling' that Pearson is compiling with her American friend, Sharon Dizenhuz, following the dozens of stories and letters she's been sent. Here's a taste of what to expect:

There was Tess, the management consultant, just back at work after the birth of her second baby and feeling totally exhausted. Over lunch with a client, Tess nearly fell asleep. When she snapped to attention, she saw the man putting a forkful of food into his mouth. Before she could stop herself, she asked: "Is that yummy in your tummy?"

When Liz in Boston's nine-year-old daughter told her 'It's not fair. You're the only Mom who doesn't take her kid to Brownies!' It made Liz feel even more guilty than usual. Come the day of the next Brownie meeting, she worked like crazy to get everything done, then made some excuse and ran out of the office. She drove across town like Sandra Bullock in Speed, and finally got to the Brownie meeting. Taking a seat, she felt that glow of maternal satisfaction all too rare for the working mother. The Brownie leader looked at her said: "It's lovely to see you Mrs Walker, maybe next time you could bring your daughter as well...."She'd forgotten her kid!

By Barbara Walshe