Maternity Leave & Gender Discrimination

InfinitelyThirsting · 2011-01-30T17:36:44+00:00

My question would be, how is the maternity leave handled? Does that time also include pre-birth, if the pregnancy becomes difficult?

Maternity leave is a difficult thing to handle, in terms of equality. Because there are times when a pregnant woman will need that leave before the birth--obviously not something a man needs to share in, as his child isn't here yet. There's also the physical recuperation period right after the birth, which can be really rough. And also to consider is breastfeeding, which is challenging and time consuming on its own, and even more difficult if you have to go to work and use pumps.

I fully support paternity leave, but there are a lot of physical, biological reasons that the mother needs to spend more time with the child than the father--not that the father isn't important, but because the mother is the child's food source. I think the better idea is to have some kind of daycare in the building, rather than tripling the length of maternity leave, but.

hydrogen18 · 2011-01-30T17:50:49+00:00

Keep in mind that a woman has to go through morning sickness, keep her health up more than usual, deal with a bulging stomach, and then spend several hours screaming and pushing, also all the breastfeeding if she choses to do so, and someone has to take care of the kid.

Discrimination? It's likely, but at the same time I feel it's quite justified.

belvedere58 · 2011-01-30T17:59:53+00:00

Well...it's not a right.

That said, I'm on paternity leave right now. Both men and women at my place of employment get the same amount of, what they call, "parental leave"--six weeks. Women, however, can take extra time, however--I think they get paid through disability insurance. And then there's unpaid leave through the FML Act.

Pregnancy is one of those things where there will never be equality. Men's bodies don't change from their partner being pregnant, and they most certainly don't have to go through the horrendous torture of birth. Most places give women extra time if they have a C-Section (since it is actually major surgery).

fishwish · 2011-01-30T17:47:35+00:00

How many employees? More than 50?

http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

Jeremian · 2011-01-30T20:28:44+00:00

Not sure about the US, but in Canada, women get 4 months as medical leave (due to the time to physically recover from pregnancy) and then a total of 8 additional months can be used by either parent. So it could be 6 months by the mom, followed by 6 months by the dad, or 4 for mom then 8 for dad, or 11 for mom and 1 for dad.

Parental leave is paid for through public funds at 55% of your earnings up to a maximum. It is not at the discretion of each company, but mandated across the country. Some companies are more generous and will top-up the benefits to a higher percentage of earnings.

2011-01-31T04:10:40+00:00

You know I agree with both genders receiving leave and I am very much into the idea of equality. However this is one of those situations where it will never be equal. The stress of childbirth is harder on a women than it is a man. Both physically and mentally. If you are getting leave at all then you are lucky. A whole lot of places don't offer paternity leave at all. Downvote if you want but IMO this is one issue that it's not Misandry it's just basic genetics.

2011-01-30T21:49:01+00:00

I agree that if the man wants to take time off he should be able to. It's not just about recuperating, it's about bonding, and love, and figuring out what the hell you two are going to do with the kiddo.

I've always found it strange, I just honestly never thought that men would want to take that much time off too. Or really had a problem with it. So, maybe the discrimination is not malicious? Doesn't make it any better:), but makes it seem less horrible. Maybe?

Either way, hope you figure it out without having to make it a fight. Here's to people in your company being reasonable.

Benlarge1 · 2011-01-30T19:24:26+00:00

When you push a watermelon out your dick then you can have the same amount of time off :)

Title	Maternity Leave & Gender Discrimination
Author	Shadowsoal
Upvotes	7
Comments	32
Date	January 30, 2011 4:51 PM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/fbv04/maternity_leave_gender_discrimination/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/maternity-leave-gender-discrimination.1043726 https://theredarchive.com/post/1043726

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