Parental leave isn’t a holiday or a ‘year off’ – so don’t pit parents against workers

‘To reduce caring for others to ‘mindless’ drudgery compared with paid work devalues the skilled labour of parents, especially mothers.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Maternity leave is not a holiday. It is not a break, a sabbatical, a retreat, a period of respite. It is not “checking out”, time off, a gap year, a lull, a hiatus, or a breather. It is not “a stop-off on the side of the road during life’s long journey”.

Maternity leave is a legally mandated and protected period of time given to a mother to recover from the physical ordeal of childbirth (if she has given birth), care for and bond with her baby. It is not even, for many women, a “career break”, because if you work freelance, have your own business, work casually, are the higher earner, have a partner who takes the bulk of the leave, or work in a career where there is pressure to return, you may not take very long at all.