Yes. That’s exactly why it’s always pissed me off when women I’ve worked with have had a kid one day and immediately returned to work the next. I expect all women who have the option of taking maternity leave to use it, and I find that expectation perfectly reasonable. “Society” agrees with me about that, at least to a certain extent, clearly; were that not the case, no such thing as maternity leave would even exist.
I guess a counter to your example would be that paternity leave should be just as available and expected as maternity leave should be, so ideally it wouldn’t even be something specific to one sex. (Of course moms do have the painful and difficult part, but it’s also about getting the kid a good start and full attention at first)
As a man who agrees that dads should be allowed, supported and encouraged to take a long paternity leave, I must say that the idea of a woman working the day after giving birth is much more horrifying than the man working the day after his wife gave birth.
Well, it didn’t, in the US, when I was having kids. Society did not agree, it had to be fought for by moms. I did get the FMLA unpaid leave with my second set and could use accrued PTO, with the first two it was work or starve.
Yes. That’s exactly why it’s always pissed me off when women I’ve worked with have had a kid one day and immediately returned to work the next. I expect all women who have the option of taking maternity leave to use it, and I find that expectation perfectly reasonable. “Society” agrees with me about that, at least to a certain extent, clearly; were that not the case, no such thing as maternity leave would even exist.
I guess a counter to your example would be that paternity leave should be just as available and expected as maternity leave should be, so ideally it wouldn’t even be something specific to one sex. (Of course moms do have the painful and difficult part, but it’s also about getting the kid a good start and full attention at first)
As a man who agrees that dads should be allowed, supported and encouraged to take a long paternity leave, I must say that the idea of a woman working the day after giving birth is much more horrifying than the man working the day after his wife gave birth.
Well, it didn’t, in the US, when I was having kids. Society did not agree, it had to be fought for by moms. I did get the FMLA unpaid leave with my second set and could use accrued PTO, with the first two it was work or starve.
Sorry. It’s embarrassing that it was ever that way, in the U.S. or anywhere, I think.