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WOW2 – February 2023: Women Trailblazers and Activists, 2-9 thru 2-14 [1]

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Date: 2023-02-11  

February 10, 2021 – In the UK, Stella Creasy, a senior Labour Member of Parliament, threatened to take the government to court over a bill giving six months’ paid maternity leave to cabinet ministers only – as she disclosed she was nine weeks’ pregnant. Creasy had a history of miscarriages, and was reluctant to reveal she was in the early stages of pregnancy, but felt she must draw attention to a system that would effectively award better maternity rights as a bonus for political promotion. The government announced plans to change the law to give cabinet ministers six months’ maternity leave in order to allow the attorney general, Suella Braverman, to keep her post after having a baby, but would not extend similar rights to MPs who are not ministers. Creasy said she “does not begrudge” Braverman her maternity leave, but she was prepared to make a legal case that she was discriminated against as an MP who is not also a cabinet minister. Creasy said her case would be intended to highlight the discrimination faced by pregnant women across all sectors. “There’s no difference between myself and the attorney general in terms of the impact of having a baby on you. We are in an environment where thousands of pregnant women are facing risks in the workplace, including the risk of the loss of their job. The message that we’re sending is that we treat maternity leave like a benefit, like a company car. In other words, only paid maternity leave for management.” Creasy pioneered a system of having a “locum MP” in place to continue her constituency work when she had her first child in 2019, but had to fight for support from the MPs’ funding body in order to hire cover. She has been the only MP to gain that funding, with several others privately admitting they feel there is no formal, transparent system for MPs, apart from ad-hoc requests for funding where the burden is on the pregnant woman. Creasy said she had been given legal advice that the government’s move could be a breach of human rights law – of a right to equal treatment and the right to a family life.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/11/2152078/-WOW2-February-2023-Women-Trailblazers-and-Activists-2-9-thru-2-14

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