MP receives abusive emails (from men) for taking mat leave

[Clymene]

Just saw this on the BBC:

MP Siobhan Baillie has received abusive messages from constituents for taking time off to care for her baby.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-52848963

So many men feel that women have no part to play in public life which should be very much structured around men and that women's needs which are different from men's should not be considered or downplayed.

A woman in a powerful position takes a highly gendered action and receives a deluge of gendered threats and abuse.

I don't understand the mindset that insists on hitting the reset button in their own brains to fool themselves saying misogynistic abuse is 'equal opportunity' abuse by both men and women. It's not being balanced or equality-minded, it relies on ignoring the mountain of facts that came before it to apply an ahistorical and unearned benefit of the doubt to modern menkind.

There's a sexist slug of "women do it toooo" lurking in there as well, for as I'm typing this Gronky has put up four entire posts on his preferred subject of women being mean and hypothetically abusive instead of talking about MP Siobhan Baillie receiving threatening messages from male constituents for the highly gendered act of taking maternity leave.

Gronky, leave off googling for "women abusive in workplace" for a bit and see what googling "pregnancy discrimination in the UK" pops up for your inspection, then try replying to the subject of the thread instead of the nagging voice in your reset-for-today head.

Regarding women being abusive about maternity leaves, I have heard quite a few anecdotal comments by women who said that they found other women in their business to be more likely to be unsympathetic compared to men with regard to maternity leaves. Typically these were not "job" type positions but careers with a lot of hours and money attached to them. My sense was always that these women had sacrificed family life themselves and saw other women taking advantage of maternity leave through that lens.

But as for the OP - I am actually a little uncomfortable with MPs taking extensive leave, be it maternity or parental, or even medical. Four weeks is not a lot, in fact I might wonder if she will find it enough. But MPs are there to represent constituents for only four years and if they take extensive leave, something like a year which I certainly think a new mother is entitled to, I find myself concerned about who is fulfilling the role of elected representative. A civil servant, IMO, doesn't cut it.

I also think it's important to have broad representation in Parliament, although it's not something I care much about in other sectors. So I find myself in a bit of a bind as to a good answer.

People who write abusive and rude emails are, of course, dickheads.

insideandout3, you've made a few assumptions, I'm afraid that the ones about me are incorrect. I understand why you would make those assumptions but it's a little disappointing.

@Goosefoot all MPs have a constituency office that runs things in their absence. That absence can, for some, be the usual situation, depending on what cabinet/group position they also hold. My current MP is usually in London, where I used to live the local MP was always in his surgery. I live on the Welsh border. The difference is my current MP is/was a cabinet minister.

And having such qualms automatically means you have doubts about any woman's ability to do the job fully! That's why legislation exists, to counteract such discrimination.

I don't know you and I don't respect your problem-exacerbating strain of women-do-it-tooism so disappointing you is irrelevant to me.

insideandout3, that's okay too.