A large number of nations around the world have been allowing women to take a period of leave for a couple of months after the births of their offspring. In this essay, I would explore the benefits and drawbacks of this trend before proposing whether there are more positive implications.
On the one hand, there are some benefits associated with allowing women to take a period of maternity leave after giving birth. It is true that carrying a baby is physically exhausting as the mother must constantly provide nutritions to a foreign body inside themselves. Thus, a maternity leave would allow female individuals to recover before being able to work productively again. Also, giving them a full break from work would help the babies’ nutritional requirements be satisfied easily as their mothers could constantly feed them with their naturally produced milk.
On the other hand, maternity leave can have some drawbacks that require the attention from both the female workers and their companies. As humans are a creature of habit, experiencing an extensive period of being removed from the working environment can take a massive toll (negative effect) on the mental health of female workers, potentially resulting in mental illnesses. Also, the process of trying to replace or cover the occupation of individuals who take maternity leave can be disruptive, leading to lower productively levels and damaging the companies.
In conclusion, although this development has both positivity and negativity, I still believe that it has more beneficial impacts. Not only can this period allow the mothers to regain their physical strengths, but also the babies can achieve an optimal growth. Regarding the problems, psychological preparation and more intensive effort from the companies could alleviate these effects significantly.