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

🤣

What is family leave?

I’m in Australia and because I’ve been with the same company more than 10 years, I’ve got 4 months paid leave to take.

So why not offer that choice to all women, to take paid time off work to do what they please with.

Because it's not designed to benefit the mother first and foremost, but to support the next generation, whose healthy functioning is beneficial to everyone.

This.

you could apply this to all sorts of leave.

I’ve gone years without being off sick, can I claim the 8 weeks full pay? Haven’t taken bereavement leave where as my colleague has very sadly had it every year. Carers leave too?

I’ve just not been entitled to claim these things and don’t agree that there should be an alternative arrangement for those who haven’t had children

I put yabu, I am 51, married , childless & knackered. I took 8 months off unpaid nearly 5 years ago to recharge my batteries having worked since I was 16, including all through higher education, I suspect I might need to take on some of my parents care in the next few years, but nothing, nothing can compare to looking after a child or children that have zero empathy for their carer, are so selfish and demanding in their needs and whose carer is so overwhelmed by the love for their charge they will do anything for them years after is necessary. Enjoy your child free freedom.

My husband would have loved to take the time I had off on mat leave to support me after a difficult birth and very slow recovery, but yeah 2 weeks off at £140 a week was what he got and I had to struggle on for months. I think I'd prioritise better paternity leave over your jolly I'm afraid. You can take a sabbatical in most careers why not do that?

Indeed, in fact here in Germany the compulsory 14 weeks of Maternity leave pre- and post-partum is known as Mutterschutz literally 'Mother Protection'.

Don't think you'll get much sympathy around here OP, and you probably shouldn't TBH. Maternity leave serves a specific purpose, is about as far from a holiday as it gets and just cannot be compared with a 2 month jolly around South America. It isn't discriminatory that non-mothers/fathers don't get an equivalent. The system we had before (where women were fired upon falling pregnant, women in their thirties not-hired etc. etc.) was highly discriminatory and thank god we've moved on from there.
Save your money and go on a sabbatical. Or go self employed and do project work where you can take a couple of months off between jobs.

Eh. I'm childless and I think we get a lot more free time generally than mums do though.

A "year off" to recover from birth, not sleep, raise a baby and then spend the rest of your life caring or worrying about them, cooking, cleaning, etc etc, vs a (relatively) easy life with normal holidays but only having to look after yourself for the most part? There's no comparison.

Mums should really get even MORE paid time off IMO

That’s not what the OP said, though. She wants to go travelling! Your point is a good one, though. Time limited ‘carer’s leave’ with statutory pay similar to maternity leave is a good idea. Difficult to implement, I imagine, but potentially very socially and individually beneficial.

No, not as long as you want, one year max. Then the mother looses her job if she does not return.

Of course they should, and they already can. It’s called annual leave of a sabbatical.

Maternity leave isn’t a holiday so there obviously isn’t a direct equivalent for a childless man or woman.

Given that a Tory MP and DWP chief has said womens maternity rights should be slashed, I don't fancy your chances of this OP.

FWIW maternity leave is not a holiday, in fact it is mostly harder than actually being a work.

Where is this endless pot of money coming from?
Would you be happy for all prices to rise to provide the extra income for the business to pay for it?
What about small businesses? Where is the money going to come from?
It's a ridiculous idea

Actually I think it's those women who have had kids I think should get the 6 month paid holiday, which maternity leave most certainly is not. YABVU

May I ask how you think this would work in practice?

so - company says “Every employer is entitled to X weeks off additional fully paid leave over and above annual leave every 5 years. If an employee chooses to use their X weeks to travel that’s great. If however another employee requires those X weeks for her shredded vagina to heal whilst she nurses 24/7 - then that’s it for her, her travel-leave is gone. X weeks - take it for hols or for healing your foof - it’s all the same”

This what your proposal is right? How else would this work in practice?

Maternity leave isn’t paid time off to go on your jolly's! It’s a hard slog, boring and exhausting all at the same time.

This+

So you want time off for having a vagina?

I totally agree with this. Workplace policies adapted to take into account the large numbers of young mothers now in the workplace.
But this also means that the large cohort of women in their fifties and sixties who traditionally took care of elderly family members are now also in the workplace. But there are no policies to take care of this.

I wonder who you think will be paying into the pot when you retire. You know for things like pension, helathcare, roads, infrastructure, government.....that'll be all the children you chose not to have while you were off being paid travelling and having fun.
Perhaps you could have 6m paid off work to help raise a child who will essentially be paying for you in your old age.
That's how society works.

You've clearly struck a nerve, op.

I have never seen a post on here from anyone TTC out of some noble duty. It's because they want a child. For themselves.

I was ready to say YABU but after reading a few posts regarding care leave for elderly parents etc. I can see your point to an extent. A baby needs a carer (be that man or woman now we can have shared parental leave) and the first 3 month should be considered recovery/sick leave.

I guess the fair thing to do is to offer everyone sick leave with the same pay as maternity for 3 months and carers leave with the same benefits.

Swanning off on holiday for 6 months to a year though, I think that isn't really comparable. The only way to make that fair is to offer everybody the same regardless of how many maternity/parental leave they have had - and that would just be too expensive for employers to consider.

No poor old me at all. That was never said. It’s the plain facts of having a child. You (the parent) are not a priority any more. My point being the OP appears to compare maternity leave to a holiday. Clearly it isn’t.