AIBU to feel resentful about repeated maternity leave cover at work

I can understand why it would get to you when it's one after another. Kids are a choice at the end of the day. I don't know why they make out there's a fertility crisis when this is the experience of companies up and down the country.

“I really don't want to feel like this but it is really hard to not feel resentful of women for this. I know it's awful but I can see why people would prefer to employ men. And I'm frustrated by the fact that women then seemingly always return part time while the husband/partner remains full time. Returning part time creates a whole host of other issues”

Can you imagine the women who came before us, who fought for our right to work AND have all the privileges held by men, reading this

You want women going on maternity leave to acknowledge how hard it is for you? Working in the NHS is hard and I think that is acknowledged, far more than any other profession is despite some others being just as tough.
Those women who go on maternity have worked in the same conditions I expect? So they've also been working whilst others have been on maternity leave, they know what it's like. They probably have it harder than a childfree person as they're trying to juggle being a good employee and a good parent. They're not going home to decompress at the end of a busy shift, they're going home and continuing to provide care.

Who will pay for your nhs pension when you retire if no one has children now?

As you presumably have a public sector pension, you (and everyone!) need peers to have kids so that there is someone around to pay for it when the time comes! Who do you think pays for public sector pensions? The taxpayers of thirty years time!

As long as you'd be happy to hand your job over to a man because it makes more sense to hire them.

Also are you grateful that you were give a job? And credit card? Are you grateful for all the things that women in previous generations were denied? Because why would women on mat leave be grateful you're covering them? Management should be on their knees thankful that you're not leaving them in the lurch- that's who should be grateful.

You do realise they are literally continuing the existence of our species.

When you take everything out of it. What is the meaning of life? It is literally that.

It’s not to work. That is something we have manufactured in the modern world. Sometimes with good reason - healthcares a pretty nice perk. But most of the time work is just a load of nonsense.

So I get your annoyed. But its not women. It’s not feminism. It’s not mothers who are the issue. It’s the world we have created which is the problem.

As Whitney once sang "I believe the children are our future".
The reason the mat laws are gold plated are to stop women who choose to have children getting screwed by their employers.
However once having had children the economic reality is that it is hard to work full time and pay for full time child care. So something has to give.
the flip side is that those who don’t take time off to have children or go to flexible working typically find that their career trajectory surpasses those that do. That is literally the quid pro quo of not having children. You will be paid more and get promoted more than someone who goes off to have kids.
So I guess suck it up for your own greater good.
plus those people’s kids will be paying your state pension when you retire, so that’s nice of them.

Yabu this is a workplace problem not managing cover properly. I worked many years in my career and my employer was more than happy for me to return from my maternity leaves and on reduced hours because I have a wealth of experience. As do other women in a similar position. Totally wrong to try and write us off because it’s inconvenient and the cover can’t manage properly.

The workforce cannot have it both ways. If women are to work, then a recognition that women have children, is just part of it. When women have children - things alter. That is part of it.

Personally, I do think the view that to employ a man over a woman to avoid the possibility of maternity leave is misogynistic not logistical. And why should very capable and intelligent women be locked out the workforce because they want to work part-time?

You’re getting angry at the wrong group of people. Your workplace is handling maternity cover badly. This isn’t the fault of the mothers themselves.

If you had maternity cover this wouldn't be a problem, would it. The women going on mat leave aren't to blame - they're just having babies.

Your issue should be entirely with your employers. This has nothing to do with women taking mat leave or returning part time. This is on your employer for their poor handling of staffing. The amount of money the NHS piss away on middle managers and they can’t manage this? Put your anger there.

Or would your solution be to ban reproduction? Or fire all fertile women?

Your workplace needs to cover maternity leave better and staff appropriately