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/

@ wincarwoo if she was really trying to do her job she would have a nanny to take her child when she is in the chamber. But that is not a good photo opportunity..

I agree she is not doing women on may leave particularly any favours. Mat leave is for resting and bonding with your baby not commuting into central London with baby in a sling to work. We should be discouraging women bringing their babies to work not encouraging them. Especially women with privilege or employers will see a nice loophole for less privileged women that can’t choose so easily.
I would have hated to have the expectation on me that I “ can bring my baby to work”. No thank you. I was getting phone calls at home the day after I gave birth to my second child, that was bad enough.
I think Stella has got this wrong

@sashagabadon

I agree she is not doing women on may leave particularly any favours. Mat leave is for resting and bonding with your baby not commuting into central London with baby in a sling to work. We should be discouraging women bringing their babies to work not encouraging them. Especially women with privilege or employers will see a nice loophole for less privileged women that can’t choose so easily. I would have hated to have the expectation on me that I “ can bring my baby to work”. No thank you. I was getting phone calls at home the day after I gave birth to my second child, that was bad enough. I think Stella has got this wrong

Good point

I see it is all part of a “feminist” agenda that pregnancy, birth and babies are not important, so easy that you can bring them into work the minute they are born. It’s all a breeze! No pregnancy, birth and babies are hard hard work for many and this time is sacred and should be respected. Leave mums alone! Let them enjoy their mat leave in peace. I am a working mum of two and had 6 months both times and I loved it.
We work for years, let’s not normalise spending our mat leaves at work

The issue is that whilst on maternity leave their constituents would have no mp - you cannot take part in debates virtually, though you can vote by proxy, there's no budget for maternity cover. Babies under 6 months especially if breastfed need to be with their mother, if it's good enough for the prime minister of New Zealand at the un, why not in parliament! It's not a normal job. I'm sure she will use the nursery (assuming there's a space) once her baby is older

[quote julieca]@TalkToTheHand123 her baby is three months old and she is breastfeeding. Would you leave a 3-month old in a nursery? I wouldnt.[/quote]
I had to .....

In your own opinion maybe

I haven't read the whole thread but there practically next to zero workplaces in which it would be practical to bring a baby.

@iawbuwes

@ BewareTheBeardedDragon yes but she wasn’t breastfeeding!

Imagine the hoo har if she had been. I didn't mean physically in the house - I assume she is ebf and that is why she has child with her in sling. I would expect that she knew her baby would sleep on her but would raise Merry hell with someone else - my daughter used to be like that. Reliably silent in her sling, predictably loud and distressed outside it. Perhaps I'm wrong. But I trust that as a mother she knew what was best for her child, and that it would work alongside effectively doing her job, which it appears to have done.

wincarwoo

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

No. She couldn't.
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Why not? People on a fraction of that wage have to cough up for childcare.

@NeverForgetYourDreams I am sorry you had to, that must have been hard.

@Pinkandpink

wincarwoo

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

No. She couldn't.
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Why not? People on a fraction of that wage have to cough up for childcare.

Not a nanny.

@iawbuwes

It is unreasonable for elected representatives not to be given maternity leave - they are elected as individuals. But if they are speaking in parliament they can surely find childcare for that time period. 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.

Excluding representation of a significant portion of the country (working mothers) from Parliament is a massive step backwards. We need greater diversity amongst our elected representatives, not less.

@sashagabadon

I agree she is not doing women on may leave particularly any favours. Mat leave is for resting and bonding with your baby not commuting into central London with baby in a sling to work. We should be discouraging women bringing their babies to work not encouraging them. Especially women with privilege or employers will see a nice loophole for less privileged women that can’t choose so easily. I would have hated to have the expectation on me that I “ can bring my baby to work”. No thank you. I was getting phone calls at home the day after I gave birth to my second child, that was bad enough. I think Stella has got this wrong

But that's not the point she's making. She's trying to highlight the fact that for MPs, whether on mat leave, off sick etc there is no facility for them to carry on their duties or find adequate cover. If she took the 6 months mat leave offered, she would not be able to represent her constituents for the duration of the leave. She would need to arrange a Proxy Vote companion which can be difficult to arrange & has been renegaded on before (as I understand). The law prevents her from employing someone else to cover her duties & her staff can only do so much - they can't vote for example. If she wishes to continue voting on her constituents behalf or speak in the HoC she has to attend therefore she is working & not on mat leave. & she has a tiny baby who is breastfed. The same applies to those MPs off sick etc in that they can't represent their constituents unless they attend the HoC. However during the pandemic MPs were allowed to vote remotely. But this has been removed & until Sept several MPs have brought babies into the HoC including a male MP without incident, & it's only because of a recent changes to their rule book that children have been prohibited. Considering there have been many cases of mostly male MPs either asleep or drunk in the HoC I think implying Stella can't do her job/pay attention etc whilst carrying a sleeping baby is laughable.

@Dishwashersaurous

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

Absolutely. I think the baby is almost a red herring - it's distracting from the real issue, which is that it shouldn't have been necessary for her to go into the House to fulfil the obligations of her role.

YABVU @iawbuwes.

I object to the image of woman tied to baby, it drags all of us down because it suggests that as mothers this defines us.
Stella Creasy is a woman with a baby doing her job. She is not an image. She does not "define" you or any other woman.

...I realise that the cause is not won by this type of self indulgent symbolism that just again marks women as ‘only’ mothers.
Hardly marking women as 'only' motherswhen the problem seems to be Stella Creasy not being 'only' a mother, but doing her job as well.

Makes people less likely elect younger women, whatever we may wish.
How so? I would think that knowing your MP will turn up to vote whatever, would be a good thing.

@TooBigForMyBoots

YABVU *@iawbuwes*.

I object to the image of woman tied to baby, it drags all of us down because it suggests that as mothers this defines us.
Stella Creasy is a woman with a baby doing her job. She is not an image. She does not "define" you or any other woman.

...I realise that the cause is not won by this type of self indulgent symbolism that just again marks women as ‘only’ mothers.
Hardly marking women as 'only' motherswhen the problem seems to be Stella Creasy not being 'only' a mother, but doing her job as well.

Makes people less likely elect younger women, whatever we may wish.
How so? I would think that knowing your MP will turn up to vote whatever, would be a good thing.

This. Still maintaining OP is a man.

“ Is an inarticulate way of making the point that does more damage to the cause.”

Bullshit. It’s HIGHLIGHTING the problem. If you’re so pissed off about her taking her baby to work it means systems need to be in place so she doesn’t have to.

Someone to hold the baby? How will that work then?

@TheGoogleMum

She can take maternity leave but she thinks it isnt fair on her constituents to have nobody to represent them. The baby didn't disrupt anything, what's the problem?

She's female and this is mumsnet, is the problem.

Lots of people on here elected a complete tosspot whose parenting overload is directly impacting his (already impaired) ability to govern the country, but they need to start threads complaining about a new mum showing that she cares about her job AND her baby, and who could teach Boris everything he doesn't know about work-life balance and equality.

200 Stella Creasys and their newborns are very much needed in the HoC. Give me a newborn crying any day instead of the sound of those loudmouths braying and shouting hear hear or hurling insults at each other. It might make them remember what they are there for. To represent people, not egg each other on like football supporters. She shouldn't be forced to use the Parliament creche if she doesn't want to.

The baby is a red herring. But it's a way of getting attention so that people can talk about the fact that there isn't a process for someone who physically can't be in the House.

I really don't get people who argue -

"She can only do this because she has privilege. I mean, I had to put my baby in a nursery as soon as it took its first breath. Straight out of the labour ward and over to the nanny. Who does she think she is?"

Because, if you resent that you had to put a very young child into nursery during what was is essentially its fourth trimester, who on earth do you think has the power to change that? Who can bring in laws to get women better rights and conditions? Or even legislation to bring down UK childcare costs so they're not among the most expensive in the world?

Bloody MPs!

And what life experience might make an MP more likely to empathise with and prioritise the rights of mothers?

Hm, perhaps recently giving birth?

But you want to make it more difficult for young women to become MPs. Because that'll help improve women's lot.

@ wincarwoo this really is the preserve of the dim MN poster - don’t agree with another woman’s view? They must be a man.

Pathetic

I think this an own goal situation. What are women fighting for here? For women to work and care for a baby at the same time? How many men are being applauded for taking their babies to work? How many men take their babies to work? Who does this benefit?