To think that women without children should be able to take time off work too?

[Playfair]

Firstly I will say that I am 100% supportive of good maternity leave (and paternity / shared), and understand the importance of supporting women to maintain a career, care for children or whatever else they wish.

I also acknowledge that maintaining birth rates is critical for society. And that maternity leave is spent doing work in raising a child.

Reflecting on my company's good maternity policy (about 6 months paid) and also some other institutions that have announced paid time off for those undergoing fertility treatment, it leaves me wondering about those of us without children (by choice or otherwise).

I'm in my thirties and will never have children. I'd love to have a small amount of paid time off (in addition to usual annual leave) to do some lengthy travel for example. I can't see why we can't have access to something similar if you haven't used any maternity benefit by a certain point.

There would obviously be benefits for society & business from developing new skills, morale etc. As well as women in work contributing to economy and through taxation.

So,

YABU - Women who choose not to have children shouldn't be entitled to anything else

YANBU - Women should be able to claim a small amount of extra paid time off if they stay in a career and contribute to business and societies success

Well this is taking entitlement to a whole new level!!

What about a woman that chooses to only have 1 child, should she be allowed 2 additional periods of absence to bring her in to line with those that have 3??
Where do we stop? I have friends with 5 children, even one with 7.

we could split the difference and offer the average I guess, so every woman gets 3 episodes of paid leave in their lifetime. Then what about those that need more because they have more children, do they have unpaid maternity leave???

Probably because they are knackered. 😂

YABU - and this is where it all starts to fall down when it comes to a 30 something entitled female asking this Q. When is it ever going to end with younger generations thinking that they are entitled to receive everything and contribute not a lot to society least of all their own kind. Women struggled for years, they fought for these rights of time off and yes, men get paternity rights too - but so they should. If you want to travel, then do that on your own time and cost - check out your company's unpaid leave options - in mine you can take up to one year with job guaranteed (not necessarily the one you chose to leave but one nonetheless) off. I am neither married nor a parent, but frankly your Q disgusts me as a female in her mid 60s. God help the woman that have to work with you is all I can say.

My friend’s job allows for 6 months semi paid- a once in a lifetime go follow your dreams kind of thing. She’s holding off for a few years to save to go travelling.

The workplace should support mothers wishing to return to work as a priority above people who just fancy six months off.

Employers should support anyone they wish to retain to take paid time off. The reason is irrelevant. Having children is a choice.

You will benefit from our children and our paid time off because our childrens taxes will pay towards your pension - maybe you can take your paid leave but opt out of getting a government pension so. But then mothers arent benefitting from your time off...

YANBU- I didn't want children until recently so opted for a company sabbatical (to be taken next year as it happens!). Ask for this- even if it's not paid, often they will keep your job open for a month etc. All women deserve it regardless of whether they pop one (or more) out if you ask me!

This!

It’s not just younger women @MMAS. I worked with a woman years ago who was incandescent when one of her direct reports became pregnant for the third time in five years. She didn’t want children but would have very much welcomed a six month paid career break. She made the case very eloquently and convincingly.

Many children turn into adults who are drains on society

Many don’t work, or work so few hours they contribute so little in taxes.

Unless you earn over £40k a year for your entire working life you don’t pay enough to even cover your personal NHS bill over a lifetime, let alone for someone else’s taxes.

You realise people help in ways that aren't purely monetary, right? They can touch others lives or make a difference to their direct community without ever paying tax.

Do you think the immigrants are your slaves? Other women have those children in their own countries who have now arrived the Uk as immigrants. If you think children are of no benefit to the society and simply a choice of their parents, why do you want children from other countries to populate your workforce when you get older?

Unless you earn over £40k a year for your entire working life you don’t pay enough to even cover your personal NHS bill over a lifetime, let alone for someone else’s taxes.

I'm not sure where you get that from but I don't think it is correct.

Actually I don't disagree that it makes sense for an employer to fund a paid six month sabbatical for someone they wish to retain if the alternative is them leaving. But they don't do this. Because they don't need to. They need to do it for mothers, because they can't work immediately after having children.

😂 yeah I can’t see them doing that either

I always found it a bit sinister when wealthy, usually white, childfree folks response to the ageing population is "its okay we can just ship in some poor sods from the rest of the world to do the shitty jobs for us".

100% agreed. Not comparable at all. Very distasteful. Throw in the Earth Mother, NCT cult women who act like they’re the first people to create offspring into the mix, and it rubs child free women up the wrong way. Some mothers need to quietly go about their lives with their offspring and stop telling anyone who will listen how difficult motherhood is. The majority of people don’t care. OP also didn’t insinuate it wasn’t difficult and asked a perfectly reasonable question. Then the typical “you don’t know what it’s like until you’re a mother” mob piled on.
Get a grip and go and craft with your precious kids.

Actually I don't disagree that it makes sense for an employer to fund a paid six month sabbatical for someone they wish to retain if the alternative is them leaving. But they don't do this. Because they don't need to. They need to do it for mothers, because they can't work immediately after having children.

Quite a few employers do this in the field I work in (and have done so for years) because highly skilled people are very difficult to find and even harder to retain because they are constantly being head hunted.

Good, I'm glad!

The workplace should support mothers wishing to return to work as a priority above people who just fancy six months off.

Why? What is the reasoning behind this?

Are you suggesting that some lifestyle choices are superior and more worthy than others? If so, again, why?

So maybe OP needs to work for one of them and problem solved

In other parts of the world 10 years long service within an organisation is rewarded with six weeks paid leave no matter what your sex or breeding orientation might be we need to introduce better benefits in this country and stop accepting the crumbs.

This is a sensible idea.

Equality, because women are still the only sex who can have children and therefore should be penalised for it.

Maybe there should be a company policy that allows everybody to take paid time off to care for a helpless individual. Perhaps if you don't want children, you could volunteer to care for old people or people with severe disabilities.

It should obviously be built in that this would be a 24/7 caring position, with occasional breaks to receive visitors, clean the facility, wipe sick of counters, put everything away again, and maybe sleep for an hour or two.

This seems like a brilliant idea!