I write from personal experience. My son died last year, aged eight months, of congenital heart disease. His life included several long periods in hospital. Thanks to maternity benefits, I was able to spend most of that time with him; when my husband finished work in the evenings and at weekends he devoted his free time to our child and they developed a strong and loving bond.
I believe it is staggeringly unfair that his mother was supported by the state to have time with him, while his father was not.
My husband took some unpaid leave, but I would have gladly given him 50% of my maternity leave in recognition of the fact that our son belonged to both of us equally.
Please do not leave fathers out of the equation when considering the optimal ways of caring for children.
They have a vital role to play and they are, in my opinion, experiencing discrimination analagous to that experienced by women in the workplace 30 years ago.
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Una O’Sullivan
Kinsale
Co Cork