To feel heartbroken and angry about this

[northlundunmum]

After several miscarriages this female MP finally had a hopeful pregnancy and instead of feeling unbounded joy is fearful about what it means for her job. She is not alone - so many women in so many walks of life feel this but as she says - If we can't fix this for MPs themselves what hope is there for the rest of us. AIBU? Shouldn't we demand MPs at least have the same parental leave as the law demands for the rest of us? And more besides - to set the bar for what good parental leave looks like for both women and men??

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/17/pregnant-mp-maternity-leave-equality-stella-creasy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Clicky Link

The headline is a bit of hyperbole isn't it - she's not the first MP to get pregnant as is acknowledged in the article.

There are existing arrangements to enable MPs with young babies to arrange voting pairing, and isn't voting the only thing that can't be delegated? I know it's jolly nice for MPs to run surgeries and act like a citizens advice bureau/supplementary social services but it's not actually obligatory and some useless MPs in safe seats don't do much. So shouldn't it be up to each political party to provide "cover" for those constituency activities?

Not sure you read the article.

Yes its sad but perhaps not surprising when politics at all levels is so male dominated. Hopefully the current generation - the few younger women - can do something about it.

Thing is, fixing this problem for MPs is nothing like fixing this problem for all the other women. I can't think of another job (although they'd may exist) where a person is elected on an individual basis. It's bad enough that unless we're a member of a paid up club, we get no say over who our next prime minister is going to be, let alone taking that right away from constituents on their locally elected MP.

Some things just aren't compatible with having a newborn.