Babies barred from house of commons... WTAF

[AdamRyan]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61987339

Unbelievable that MPs who are mums can not take their babies into the HoC and therefore not be able to vote or participate in debates.

MPs don't get maternity leave either.

This seems like its going to be a significant hindrance to getting more female representation and also like we are going backwards in terms of women's participation in public life

www.parliament.uk/about/working/nursery/

they have an on-site nursery which has much longer opening hours than most nurseries do.

Perhaps one option might be the babies’ fathers could look after them whilst mum is at work? Most career women think at their childcare options before deciding to become mothers.

What @RedToothBrush has said in full.

There is an onsite crèche. I want more female MPs and I want them to be perceived, as they rightly are, as capable professionals. It's not appropriate to bring your baby into the workplace and having a child strapped to you does nothing to undermine the idea that mothers have enough on to take on a demanding job as well.

Also the role of husbandd/fathers. When Stella Creasy brought her baby in I did wonder where Mr Creasy was.

Think about..

No other job could you take your baby to work.
Where do you draw the line?
3mths, 4mths, 6mths certainly before 12mths not appropriate to have babies crawling or toddling around in HoC.

And even with a tiny baby is it appropriate to have crying babies or for an MP to have to leave the chamber mid debate to change a nappy?

I do think MPs should be entitled to maternity leave but thats a different issue.

It's a good decision. Other workplaces don't allow breast feeding mothers as a rule. Why should the HOC be any different.

I don't think taking babies into the chamber helps mothers anyway. If it's possible to be an effective MP with a baby strapped to you, surely all other mothers must just be a bit crapwhen they need childcare in place to do their job?

The women are well paid, there is childcare on site and the children have fathers.

I disagree with taking babies on to the floor of the house.

Surely though it would be possible to use the remote working arrangements pioneered during Covid to allow the miniscule numbers of MPs with infants who would normally be on Maternity leave to vote and to join debates from home?

If they did not have a partner at home to watch the baby during work times they could employ a nanny. The state should pay for the nanny for the time the MP would have been able to take maternity leave if they had been doing another job.

Of course babies shouldn't be allowed in the HOC, that's what the crèche is for.

Why? She'll be getting her full salary, which isn't paid on ML

Absolutely right.

That is the solution. Maternity leave etc rather than being allowed to bring your baby to work.

The Why is because of this (from OP)

Because they are not allowed to take maternity leave like the rest of us. Or have a job share or work part time or the other things that enable working mothers in the real world

Which doesn’t mean babies should be allowed but surely does mean that rather simply ban them there should have been a more sensible approach debated and agreed upon.

I wouldn't dream of taking my DCs along to my work and I am on minimum wage. With thier salaries and onsite creche there is no need. It looks unprofessional and detached from thier female constituents who manage to juggle childcare and breastfeed in far more challenging circumstances.

So who would you have covering this elected position during the ML?

I'm astonished that people who , apparently, are capable of running the country can't come up with a viable solution.

There are quite a few options that could be considered.....
I assume bringing the baby in was just to highlight the fact that the hoc is still very discriminatory and set up in a way that assumes there is a partner at home to look after any dc..
Of any age as sessions often go on very late...

And MPs know that when they take the job. Just as any other mother who has a role that involves some anti-social hours would be expected to.

We can't have women bringing their small babies into the chamber. It might put male MPs off perving, sexually intimidating and sexually assaulting them.

Voting rights for MPs could be tweaked to remove this problem.
However we encourage maternity leave for mother's for a reason.

They’re allowed anywhere on the Parliamentary estate other than the chamber, Westminster Hall debates or committee rooms.

There is a very good on-site nursery that MPs can use. It’s only a few minutes away from the chamber.

No reason to take a baby into the chamber. Creasy et al love playing the victim 🙄

I don't see how not being allowed to take your baby "into the Chamber" so preventing you from sitting in there stops you from doing your job as an MP. Most of the times these days the chamber is almost empty anyway if you look on TV. There's a crèche on-site, seems a lot better to me than most womens setups.

this is all a red herring. You make your choices in life and all involve compromise somewhere along the way. As a "self employed" mother with my own business when mine were born, there was no way I could take months and months off when the baby came. I had to get cover and go back as soon as I could otherwise I'd have lost my customers. So, back at work 6 weeks post EMCS. It wasn't great and I really envied those who worked for large organisations who could take 6 months off. It's the same for a lot of women, just the way it is if you take certain paths in life.

The problem is taking babies into the chambers, not the whole of the HoC estate. Anyone who has worked in the Palace of Westminster will appreciate the difference.

The headlines are misleading. Basically they’re saying no babies in the big chamber where they do the debates and PMQs etc.

I think that’s fair enough actually.

Mat leave is a difficult one. The electorate want the person that they voted for representing them. It will probably put people off voting for women of childbearing age if there is potential for her to disappear for 9 months+. At the same time we do not want to put women off going into politics if family is on the cards. That being said, MPs are in a much better position than the average working woman even without mat leave and it's only recently that female MPs have started trying to bring babies in so other MPs have managed so far. It really makes no sense to have babies in the room when the most important decisions in the country are being made.

The real issue is the lack of maternity leave, but realistically what happens in the interim- does someone else get elected by constituents whilst their elected MP is off? There is a nursery on site, expensive but cheap compared to many in London, perhaps they can sort out the cost of childcare if it's an issue. I don't think banning Babies from a workplace is anything shocking- many self employed parents are forced back to work because of the pittance SMP is.

Sensible ruling.

This seems like its going to be a significant hindrance to getting more female representation

Nonsense. They're paid more than enough to get childcare for an hour or two so they can vote.