It Doesn’t Matter How You Have A Baby, You Deserve Maternity Leave
Taken from here.
Every person heals differently, and labor is no exception. I spent a week after delivering my daughter feeling unbelievably crappy. Then, my body was pretty much back to normal. I mean, there was a baby attached to it constantly, but it functioned in much the same manner as it always had. Others have a much harder time recuperating from childbirth. A million factors come in to play, from your health before the pregnancy to the difficulties of your labor. With all this taken into account, I still can’t imagine that a woman would take twelve weeks to bounce back from having baby, unless there were extreme extenuating circumstances. I would assume that after four weeks, most women are fully functional.
So why do most companies (and countries) give at least twelve weeks of maternity leave? I always assumed that people understood the need for new mothers to have time to bond with their infants. I thought that those extra eight weeks were to allow mothers and children and opportunity to connect before moms head back to work. Just like taking time off from work to help a sick family member, maternity leave should give us the chance to take care of our extremely vulnerable and needy little ones. Apparently, I was all wrong.
Kara Krill, an employee of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, is suing her company for denying her paid maternity leave (which is promised in her contract) after the birth of her twins. Why would they deny her leave? Because her babies were born through a surrogate. After the birth of her first child, Krill learned that she had Asherman’s syndrome, a condition that causes scar tissue and hurts a woman’s chances of having children. So she had her next kids through surrogacy, expecting to still receive maternity leave after they were born to care for them.
Her company had a different idea. They offered her five days paid time off, just like they offer families who adopt children. From what I’ve read, she sees this as discrimination, because a disability made her unable to bear the children herself. The twins are her natural children, someone else just did the grunt work. Literally. (I know, I know. I couldn’t help it.) Most legal experts looking at the case say that it’s going to come down to the fine print on Krill’s contract.
I say, why would you only get five days after adopting a child? What does it matter if you use a surrogate? The fact is, infants need constant care and attention. New mothers should be able to provide that care, even if they have to take time off work to do so. I’ve never thought as maternity leave as a time for personal recuperation and rest. New mothers don’t get a whole lot of down-time. The reason that mothers stay home is to take care of their kids. It doesn’t matter how they’ve chosen to have kids.
Yes, pregnancy and labor can be a doozy on a woman’s body. It’s reasonable to think that she can’t physically do anything she wants in the first few weeks after childbirth. But bodies heal. Young children grow and develop so much in those early weeks. Allowing mothers the opportunity to stay home and care for them in those first one to three months can greatly impact a child’s life for years to come. Every caregiver should be able to make the decision as to whether or not they stay home in the beginning of their child’s life.
[Writer's Note: I realize that I completely ignored the issue of paternity leave, its effects on a man's career and why it should be just as important as maternity leave. I believe this issue deserves its own post and I will try to provide one soon.]
Related posts:
Every person heals differently, and labor is no exception. I spent a week after delivering my daughter feeling unbelievably crappy. Then, my body was pretty much back to normal. I mean, there was a baby attached to it constantly, but it functioned in much the same manner as it always had. Others have a much harder time recuperating from childbirth. A million factors come in to play, from your health before the pregnancy to the difficulties of your labor. With all this taken into account, I still can’t imagine that a woman would take twelve weeks to bounce back from having baby, unless there were extreme extenuating circumstances. I would assume that after four weeks, most women are fully functional.
So why do most companies (and countries) give at least twelve weeks of maternity leave? I always assumed that people understood the need for new mothers to have time to bond with their infants. I thought that those extra eight weeks were to allow mothers and children and opportunity to connect before moms head back to work. Just like taking time off from work to help a sick family member, maternity leave should give us the chance to take care of our extremely vulnerable and needy little ones. Apparently, I was all wrong.
Kara Krill, an employee of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, is suing her company for denying her paid maternity leave (which is promised in her contract) after the birth of her twins. Why would they deny her leave? Because her babies were born through a surrogate. After the birth of her first child, Krill learned that she had Asherman’s syndrome, a condition that causes scar tissue and hurts a woman’s chances of having children. So she had her next kids through surrogacy, expecting to still receive maternity leave after they were born to care for them.
Her company had a different idea. They offered her five days paid time off, just like they offer families who adopt children. From what I’ve read, she sees this as discrimination, because a disability made her unable to bear the children herself. The twins are her natural children, someone else just did the grunt work. Literally. (I know, I know. I couldn’t help it.) Most legal experts looking at the case say that it’s going to come down to the fine print on Krill’s contract.
I say, why would you only get five days after adopting a child? What does it matter if you use a surrogate? The fact is, infants need constant care and attention. New mothers should be able to provide that care, even if they have to take time off work to do so. I’ve never thought as maternity leave as a time for personal recuperation and rest. New mothers don’t get a whole lot of down-time. The reason that mothers stay home is to take care of their kids. It doesn’t matter how they’ve chosen to have kids.
Yes, pregnancy and labor can be a doozy on a woman’s body. It’s reasonable to think that she can’t physically do anything she wants in the first few weeks after childbirth. But bodies heal. Young children grow and develop so much in those early weeks. Allowing mothers the opportunity to stay home and care for them in those first one to three months can greatly impact a child’s life for years to come. Every caregiver should be able to make the decision as to whether or not they stay home in the beginning of their child’s life.
[Writer's Note: I realize that I completely ignored the issue of paternity leave, its effects on a man's career and why it should be just as important as maternity leave. I believe this issue deserves its own post and I will try to provide one soon.]
Related posts:
- No Co-Worker Left Behind: The Other Side Of Maternity Leave
- Negotiating Your Re-Entry Is As Important As Your Exit For Maternity Leave
- Video Of The Day: Fox’s Megyn Kelly Defends Maternity Leave
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