Author proposes controversial 'meternity' leave for non-parents

Meghann Foye doesn't have kids, but she really needed some time off. Her grand solution to the problem was "meternity" leave, otherwise known as maternity leave for those without children. You might have heard it referred to in the past as a "sabbatical."

Foye, author of the new novel Meternity, explained her position in an interview with the New York Post, during which she describes the envy she felt when colleagues at her magazine job would announce upcoming maternity leaves, or slip out of work at 6 P.M. to get home to their children. 

As she told Post reporter Anna Davies:

"But the more I thought about it, the more I came to believe in the value of a 'meternity' leave — which is, to me, a sabbatical-like break that allows women and, to a lesser degree, men to shift their focus to the part of their lives that doesn’t revolve around their jobs."

The author would go on to take a leave from work, during which she says she gained perspective on both her professional and personal lives. 

"Ultimately, what I learned from my own “meternity” leave is that any pressure I felt to stay late at the office wasn’t coming from the parents on staff. It was coming from myself. Coming back to a new position, I realized I didn’t need an “excuse” to leave on time. 

But some have taken issue with Foye's use of maternity leave as an example of a few months to one's self.

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Foye’s critics say she fundamentally misunderstands the nature of maternity leave when she argues that childless workers miss out on “socially mandated time and space for self-reflection.”

Mothers who’d taken paid maternity leave — only 12% of private sector workers are so lucky — began tweeting and writing about the emotionally and physically draining experience of caring for an infant.

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The problem with Faye’s characterization of maternity leave, they said, is that it perpetuates the damaging myth that maternity leave is a vacation instead of a sleepless marathon of feeding, changing and soothing a helpless human being.

Advocates have long worked to convince policymakers and business leaders that bonding with a baby is essential work, and that paying employees to take that time has benefits not just for families but also for the bottom line.

Foye doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of those stakes, nor the pressure mothers feel upon returning from maternity leave. They haven’t come back from a introspective sojourn feeling refreshed and renewed; it’s more like a second job that never ends and is always unpredictable.

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Foye has since dropped out of her appearance from Good Morning America, where she was scheduled to discuss her book and the concept of a "meternity" leave.

In the subsequent segment, GMA's Amy Robach shared her views on the comparison between a maternity leave and a break from work.

"It's the most selfless time you'll ever have in your life," she said. "It's not about you at all, actually."

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Mashable has reached out to Foye's representative a with request for comment.

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