No, I Don’t Need “Meternity Leave”

Last week, Meghann Foye wrote a post for the New York Post website declaring her desire for “Meternity Leave.” Which is apparently a “vacation” to “find yourself” just like new moms get! As a childfree woman, Foye’s article makes me furious.

First, Foye argues that only women need “meternity.” Which is incredibly insulting! Second, she complains “it’s not fair” that parents leave the office on time. If you are regularly working overtime (and aren’t paid for it), then it might be time to look for a new job. It is not (usually) the fault of your fellow employees.

Lastly, we get into maternity leave itself. And I don’t think Foye knows what maternity leave is at all. In the United States it is 12 weeks of unpaid time off to care for a child, and to recover from giving birth. Not for “becoming sure of yourself.” Not for alleviating “burnout.” And certainly not for “providing flexibility.” Flexibility looks like my childfree Saturday morning. Where I woke up with a solid 8 hours of sleep, watched Arrow while eating cookies for breakfast, played my bass, and then wrote this post. So before we start fighting for a “meternity leave,” we should probably get decent maternity/paternity leave in this country.

All that being said, if we remove the language that pits women against each other. If we remove the sexist overtones Foye uses. We can get to a discussion that needs to happen, which is the state of time-off in this country. Americans only take half of their PTO time. We have a workaholic culture that actually works against productivity, and dampens our creativity. And I’m for extended time off, but that’s a sabbatical. Not maternity leave. And if we had such a thing, parents should get it as well as non-parents. Because maternity leave is not a sabbatical.

At the end of her post, Foye says “Coming back to a new position, I realized I didn’t need an “excuse” to leave on time. And that’s what I would love the take-away for my book to be: Work-life balance is tough for everyone, and it happens most when parents and nonparents support and don’t judge each other.” In itself a good point. It’s just a shame she had to turn it into another “mommy wars” type of post.