What’s up with Pete Buttigieg’s Paternity Leave?
“Every American ought to be able to get paid parental leave.”
While part of me feels it’s none of our beeswax what Pete Buttigieg does with his paternity leave, he’s also a government official so he gets less privacy with these types of issues. In a video I came across on Instagram a couple days ago Jen Psaki schooled some reporter on the importance of pat and mat leave for the Biden administration when questioned about Pete taking pat leave. But the confusing part is she stated Pete was on paternity leave but also on a conference call that morning. Huh? If he is on pat leave shouldn’t he not be on work calls?
Well, I wasn’t the only one questioning this. Daphne Delvaux (@themamaattorney) follow pointed this problem out, calling out Jen for defending Pete working during his pat leave. But the real insight came through in the comments.
What this comes back to is the importance of paid parental leave and how complicated it is. It seems black and white—like everyone deserves it and as soon as a baby is placed in someone’s arms they can and should put their family before work. But if it was that easy we wouldn’t be having this discussion. What about a mom who craves work to make her feel more like herself like in the comment above? What about moms who suffer from unimaginable morning sickness? (I didn’t get out of bed for an entire month in the beginning of my pregnancy and I have two friends who have spent considerable amount of time in the hospital during their pregnancies. When should their leave begin?). What about parents who have roles like Secretary of Transportation? (I have no idea what the solution is on that one.) What about when we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and a new dad with a very niche job is responsible for keeping the sickest COVID patients alive? (I’m talking about my husband who took maybe a week off when our second daughter was born because our healthcare system is incredibly messed up. Also please get vaccinated so my husband doesn’t have to take care of unvaccinated COVID patients on their deathbed instead of our family).
Check out this interview with Pete and his thoughts on parental leave in the US. I love everything he says, including “every American ought to be able to get paid parental leave.” Also, can you imagine finding out you were having not one but two babies 24 hours before they were born?! 😳
And lastly, props to Pete for having twins less than a year into this new very important gig. Can you imagine a woman being in the same position and two months into her role calling up her boss (uh, the President) and letting him know she was pregnant and would be taking mat leave during this supply-chain shortage? I mean, THAT would be badass.
