Anonymous wrote:Newborns are hard and I am 1000% supportive of inclusive policies.
But does anyone else kind of worry that by making everything equal, that we ignore the realities of childbirth on a mother? I don’t know what the solution is— I certainly want adoptive parents, partners, etc to have time off, but I also feel like as a society we already gloss over the challenges of childbirth (it’s natural! It’s wonderful!) and don’t provide physical or mental supports to birth moms- many of whom are recovering from surgery, potentially life-threatening complications, or long term issues requiring PT. I guess what I’m saying is that fair is not always equal.
I don’t mean to hijack your thread, OP, and congrats on writing a thoughtful policy.
This has always been an issue for me too. I know one of the biggest ways to improve the societal situation for mothers recovering from childbirth is to make it easier AND socially expected for a partner to stay home to care for baby and new mom too but I also struggle with the idea that these broad parental leave policies place the emphasis squarely on adjusting to a new baby/child and not on the realities of the impact pregnancy and childbirth has on a woman. I don’t know how to solve that though. Maybe someday these policies will also include flexibility for pre and postnatal leave specifically for dealing with the challenges of pregnancy ans the often drawn out postpartum treatments needed to fully recover.