To think taking a baby to Parliament is ridiculous?

[iawbuwes]

Stella Creasy MP taking her baby to the Commons - I think it is utterly ridiculous.

Everyone else has to find childcare. Labour have lost the plot and don’t seem to care what people think (I say this as a life long Labour vote who cannot stomach voting for Labour as it now is). Parliament even have a nursery! www.parliament.uk/about/working/nursery/

@iawbuwes

On a basic salary of £81,932 she can afford a bloody nanny!

No. She couldn't.

And maybe your term in parliament is not the ideal time to have a baby, give that your focus is meant to be on your constituents.

I thought this kind of sexist attitude was precisely the kind of attitude that modern laws about maternity entitlements were supposed to address! Would you say to, say, an office employee you had taken on that a condition of their employment was that they must not get pregnant for the next five years? Would you hire a man who might have a family in the next five years, but not a woman?

I am puzzled by your apparent attitude.

If anything, she is displaying her privilege as a politician. Most working mothers have to arrange childcare or take some leave from work. I think the reason why she’s not entitled to maternity leave is because she does not receive a salary, only expenses paid. I could be wrong, but this is the case for many MPs. Nevertheless, she either needs to put her politician dreams on hold for a while, or pay for childcare like everyone else.

@ wincarwoo thanks, I have worn a baby.

And I am female

And a radical feminist (sorry if some of you think that you can dictate what feminists think)

The problem with ridiculous stunts like the one she pulled by taking the baby into parliament is that it lets the fathers off the hook. To work, women shouldn’t babies into the workplaces but the time should be divided between both parents. Both should pay towards childcare and both should beat the burden.
Very very very few jobs can be done effectively with a baby strapped to your front. It’s not feminism to campaign for women to take babies into the workplace. This ridiculousness sums up the Labour Party. They are band of crazy individuals more interested in being campaigners and celebrities than governing.

@iawbuwes

@ wincarwoo thanks, I have worn a baby.

And I am female

And a radical feminist (sorry if some of you think that you can dictate what feminists think)

You don't seem to have much of a clue tbh despite your protestations

I think that this thread, and the other similar ones raises interesting questions about what we want our elected representatives to be.

People always say that they want more diversity in their MPs and people who have experience in real life and know about the experience of real people.

But that means that those MPs will themselves be real people, with competing pressures in their lives.

Alternatively as a society we could elect people without any other pressures in their lives, not sure how that would be filtered out exactly.

But we could raise the minimum age to be an MP to 50. Therefore people would have to have had careers and lives before, and very unlikely to have newborns (the current PM exception of course).

@MandalaYogaTapestry

Why is everybody saying "Did anyone ask that about a male MP?" Yes, male MPs have babies, including BJ, but they haven't brought them to work. Women have done though. Hence the question.

How many male MPs breastfeed their baby and therefore need to be close to them to keep them fed and healthy? Not all women can express and not all babies can duel feed.

And maybe your term in parliament is not the ideal time to have a baby, give that your focus is meant to be on your constituents.

And you still think you're a radical feminist?

Actually, I just read that she IS entitled to maternity leave and is paid her full salary during her absence (BBC article)! She is paid £82k a year (Guardian article)! She is showing her privilege because many working mothers struggle to afford childcare and either have to go part time or give up work! She has more than enough money to pay for full time childcare!

@TalkToTheHand123

She shouldn't be an MP if she can't get childcare.

She’s less an MP, more a student activist. As are many labour MPs.

@ BewareTheBeardedDragon yes but she wasn’t breastfeeding!

The whole thing is utterly embarrassing. She could get Childcare like everyone else. It's an attention seeking stunt!

She is entitled to maternity leave.

But not maternity cover.

Therefore unless she physically votes herself in debates then her constituency is not represented

@Drumshambo

The whole thing is utterly embarrassing. She could get Childcare like everyone else. It's an attention seeking stunt!

Exactly. It’s an ‘ooh look at me. Aren’t I progressive in paving the way for women’. Perfect for Instagram. Women like her are embarrassing and diminish the achievements of other women who do things rather than pull stunts.

@Drumshambo

The whole thing is utterly embarrassing. She could get Childcare like everyone else. It's an attention seeking stunt!

Really? How is it embarrassing. I'll assume you've been calling for BJs resignation for years

@ wincarwoo thanks for you concern but I do - I realise that the cause is not won by this type of self indulgent symbolism that just again marks women as ‘only’ mothers. She is doing us no favours. I say this from a number of years experience across govt, academia, charitable and private sectors.

@DartmoorChef

Nobody forced her to be an MP, and nobody forced her to have a baby either. They were her choices and I don't believe that having a potentially crying child in the house of commons is professional.

Goodness you are right nobody forced her to be an MP and have a baby, it would be so much better if MP's didn't have babies, we need more professional people to be MP's, ones that don't have to bother with babies....like.......men. Yes!! only men should be MP's because there's no need for them to be worrying about childcare or what to do with their breast feeding baby at 3 months because they have women for those things.

Men are much better suited to important roles like being MP's because they are more professional and don't have babies. This is also true of almost all high powered jobs so they should also be men only. Silly women thinking they could ever be professional enough when they do rash things like give birth.

@ sst1234 totally agree

@Dishwashersaurous

1. She can not get maternity cover to do a vital part of her job.

1. Therefore she has to do that vital part of the job.

1. In order to do that she needs to physically bring the tiny breastfeeding baby with her to do it.

The actual issue is that there is no mechanism to allow part of the job, in many ways the key part, without it being the physical presence of the MP.

That's why for key debates people have been brought in on the back of ambulances too ill to Stan in order to vote.

During COvid there was a facility to speak and vote remotely.

All that is required is to maintain that facility MPs who needed it, whether on sick leave, family leave or any other reason.

I agree.

There should be better maternity options for MPs. It's not professional to take a baby, but there's a lot of stuff in the hoc that falls into that catagory.

@iawbuwes

@ wincarwoo thanks for you concern but I do - I realise that the cause is not won by this type of self indulgent symbolism that just again marks women as ‘only’ mothers. She is doing us no favours. I say this from a number of years experience across govt, academia, charitable and private sectors.

How is she "only" a mother (nothing wrong with that btw) when she is at work and trying to do her job.

@ Tal45 have the baby but don’t make a show if it. Makes people less likely elect younger women, whatever we may wish. She has put us back years

I'd like to ask where is the actual evidence that she is less effective at her job with a sleeping baby strapped to her front, as opposed to the assumption?

Now, I know about all the what if's, but the baby didn't cry, as far as I know, or in any other way impact her performing her duties - and she was awake, and engaged and focussed on what she was doing, as opposed to far too many MP's, far too often.

Ardern has managed to run a country while having a baby and breastfeeding, and numerous MP's in NZ have had babes sleeping on their chests while the house was sitting - indeed the speaker has held a sleeping babe in his arms in NZ while the house was in session. It's only an issue if you want it to be an issue. It can actually be the norm, and a functional one.

And just to say again. This issue isn't just about maternity leave. It's about MP who can't get to parliament for multiple reasons- cancer treatment or other sickness.

There needs to be a system in place to accommodate people temporarily being away. And during covid there was and it worked well