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

I don't have kids and at my age, never will, and would far rather taxpayers pay to improve the standard living for all and the NHS etc than pay an adult to take six months off work, unless they were unable to work or on maternity leave.

If I wanted to take extra time off work, I would fully expect to pay for that myself, but wouldn't as I wouldn't have the funds. Employers in the private sector are never going to afford to do this for staff.

It's like you just don't understand the purpose of maternity leave at all.

It ensures that a woman doesn't need to make the choice between having a career/working and having a baby. Most families now require both parents to work just to be able to fund life.

You think some women are penalised for not having children?.......dear oh dear oh dear

And you don't think childless people face discrimination 😂. I am treated like an oddity for not having children. 'Oh you better hurry up. Tick tock. You'll regret it.' etc etc. I can't have children and shouldn't have to discuss why my body failed me. It's hard enough. I'm discriminated against at work all the time. Always the first to be asked to do extra hours, cover evening work etc because heaven forbid it should be shared out equally when the childless person can obviously do it. People assume childless people have no responsibility.

It sounds fine, in theory. Although (inspired by some threads on here recently!), what would happen if you had an unexpected child at 45 and decided to keep it? Do you pay it back?

Just look for an employer with a paid sabbatical after x years - they do exist.

I think everyone should get more paid annual leave, but maternity and paternity leave exists for a specific reason… it’s like asking for sick pay if you haven’t been poorly for a while.

You can take the same amount of leave as any other worker, male or female, who does not have to recover from childbirth and/or introduce a child to a household.

Nice idea but I figure those of us who are child free have a better chance of retiring earlier to compensate!

Maternity leave is not the same as time off to do what you want though. It's hard undervalued work.

So yes might be good to get time off but not in place of maternity leave.

Do women who’ve had children also get this paid time to go off and travel?

Because I can tell you now that maternity leave is so much harder than work!

For me maternity leave is a bit more like like sick leave

A lot of companies now have carer’s leave. Also most offer sabbaticals, I know a lot of people who have done this.

Wait so childless women and men get a nice break (paid?) to travel to pursue and interest and I font because i had a baby. A year off for which I was in physical pain for most of it and exhausted and breastfeeding for all of it.

Think how many less of us would have kids if this was the case lol

But in all seriousness my work supports sabbaticals after 2 years service so 🤷🏻‍♀️ this is already a thing, and yes you can apply even if you had a maternity jolly 😂

Employers that offer enhanced maternity pay probably offer funding for training courses and sabbaticals anyway. Even employers that don’t offer enhanced maternity pay may offer to pay for you to do courses if you ask.
Emloyers already pay holiday pay too, and some are really generous with how many days they pay for.
Some also offer paid time off for getting married, moving house, for your birthday etc.

If you don’t already work for one of these employers, I would start looking OP.

I think maternity leave is really important but also think similar leave should be available for other caring situations, I can't have children due to a chronic illness and due to a very complex situation I am now going to be have to try and provide a lot of care for an unwell parent and a sibling with learning disabilities, I have no idea how I will manage to do these things whilst trying to manage my own health and keep a job.

At a societal level, we have to provide paid maternity leave. If we didn't then people would be even more disincentivised to have children/ not actually be able to afford to. We need people to have children to be our future doctors, teachers, bin people etc. And to pay our pensions. We don't, as a society need for you to have extra paid leave on top of the statutory leave dictated by law.

I used to think the same as you and then I had a baby and realised it wasn’t a break of any kind it was much harder than any job I’d ever done.

When I was childless I took an unpaid leave of absence for 3.5 months and bought a round the world plane ticket. I don't really see why my employers should have subsidised my personal adventures. Howeger, I think it would be good to increase minimum annual leave entitlements and generally increase across the board.

Since then I have taken two adoption leaves. My current employer had v poor maternity/adoption/paternity provisions which they have since improved. I don't think that the adoption leaves and my round the world trip leave are at all comparable and it feels completely fair that I was paid in part for one but not paid for the other.

As a childless person who was diagnosed with cancer and then treated really shabbily by my then-employer, it used to occur to me that I would have had a better experience if I told them I was pregnant rather than taking time off “sick” to have chemo. I was constantly told that my absence was disruptive, that I couldn’t possibly do phased return or leave early when tired. Pregnant? Take as long as you need, forget work!

Anyone who thinks childless women aren’t discriminated against is living in a fantasy world.

Also think about how much more money you’re saving by working instead of taking maternity leave and avoiding a second mortgage aka nursery fees. That would pay for several holidays all on its own.

It is also a choice, so if you choose not to have one why should you be penalised by not getting an equivalent benefit?

Time off to do what you like is not an equivalent benefit.

I agree with you. People don't have kids as part of some noble duty do they? There are already far too many people on the planet and especially in the UK. Two lots of six months off, to either have a baby or travel etc, would be great.

So many people missing the point…

we all agree maternity leave it not a holiday and it’s not comparable to a sabbatical or travelling.

BUT it’s a choice to have a child and take maternity leave. So why not offer that choice to all women, to take paid time off work to do what they please with. If you want to spend it sleep deprived and clearing up sick and dirty nappies, good for you…

Parental leave is mainly for the benefit of the child, not the parent. So YABU - because we all get the chance, as babies, to have 9 months with our mother before they have to go back to work.

I worked for a company that offered 3 months paid sabbatical for every five years worked. Try and find that if that's what you're after.

Mat leave is nothing like a holiday however.

It's called a sabbatical