My first reaction was, admittedly, confusion, and also a sense that perhaps maternity leave was being played up as a vacation of sorts, as opposed to a time of adjusting to having a new child in the home and recovering from pregnancy and giving birth. However, Sam Baker of Red Magazine tells Wallop: "This isn't a working mum versus working non-mums argument. Nobody thinks maternity leave is a holiday. Employers, especially now, need to incentivise their staff in imaginative ways and that could involve offering leave. Some companies are already doing this."

Wallop sites one company, BT, that "offered its staff the right to take a year off, in return for taking a 75 per cent pay cut," a move that allows a "maternity leave" of sorts, for an extremely reduced salary, in order to cut costs for the company, allow workers to opt for time off and still maintain a job to return to—hopefully in a better economic climate. However, there is nothing in Wallop's piece about the benefits given to these employees, and I"m still not sure how, exactly, this matches up with a traditional maternity leave.

What do you think, commenters? Should a leave of absence be made available to all women, or does this make maternity leave seem like a vacation instead of a time of stress and physical recuperation? [Women Without Children Should Be Allowed Maternity Leave, Survey Says [Telegraph]

[Image via CPSU]

• Despite earlier reports, Cheyvonne Molino, a woman who knows Garrido and the girls says they never acted robotically and didn't wear prairie dresses. • President Obama and Megan Fox are both experts at packaging sound-bites according to The Huffington Post because they each have made similar statements in different interviews. Yesterday when asked about claims that those who dislike him are racist, Obama told both George Stephanopoulos and John King basically, "Are there some people who don't like me because of my race? I'm sure there are." In a Rolling Stone interview Fox talked about her "powerful, confident vagina," and she told Cosmopolitan, "Women hold the power because we have the vaginas. If you're in a heterosexual relationship and you're a female, you win." Maybe their respective thoughts on racism and vaginas are just very consistent. • Between 14 and 23 percent of pregnant women experience a depressive disorder during pregnancy and 13 percent took anti-depressants in 2003. According to a new study short-term neonatal irritability and neurobehavioral changes were linked to maternal depression and anti-depressant treatment. • In the video at the link, a local Florida station, reports that parents are complaining about billboards in 16 cities that say "sex without consent is rape" that are paid for with federal tax money because the ads force them to discuss sexual violence with their children. • Many skin care products and cosmetics contain alcohol and pork products. Aside from being gross, this means Muslim women who keep Halal can't use them. After converting to Islam and finding few cosmetics options for Muslim women, a former makeup created OnePure, a cosmetics line approved and certified by the Malaysian Islamic Authority. • An AP investigation found that baby formula companies are aggressively promoting formula over breast-feeding in Vietnam. Formula companies have paid doctors to push their products and advertised formula for babies between six and 12 months even though Vietnam's law prohibits advertising formula for children under age one. • In a New York Times profile, Beth Kaplan, the president of GNC says, "I need to be part of a big organization, and my kids get it. I was at Bath & Body Works when my father died, and I struggled with being away from home. I resigned and thought my boys would be thrilled. My younger son, who was 8, was so excited that he jumped into my arms. My older son said, 'But Mommy, I really liked that job.'" • Sixty-eight of the 72 known people 110 and older are female, even though there are more boys than girls born each year. Part of the reason may be that men are five times more likely than women to die by firearms, men are more susceptible to fatal conditions like cancer and heart disease, and men are more likely to ignore emotional problems and are nine times more likely to commit suicide between the ages of 75 and 79. • According to government estimates more than 16 million Japanese women, or one quarter of the country's female population, are 65 or older. The country is anticipating a shortage of workers as the population ages. • The Australian Fair Work Ombusdman's office has found that women are being fired for taking maternity leave and being told to quit if they can't juggle work and family. In one case, a woman saw her position being advertised in the newspaper eight months into her maternity leave and was told she couldn't come back. In another case a woman's boss shifted her from five eight-hour days to four 10-hour days so she couldn't drop her kids off at day care, and told her to quit if she didn't like it. • The Pasco, Washington planning commission voted down a proposal to allow a Planned Parenthood in town because they say it would attract too many protesters. Anna Franks, president of Planned Parenthood of Central Washington says the decision was political: "What we have here are protesters protesting against Planned Parenthood that there may be protesters at our clinic." The county has one of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state. •

• Cellphone networks in the UK have been asked to remove the numbers of pimps and prostitutes from their service before the 2012 Olympic games. Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for policing, says the numbers can come to act as a kind of "switchboard," with multiple girls working from one number. • In other cellphone news, researchers have figured out a way to accurately track friendships using cellphones. Through implanting a number of their volunteers phones with software that logged their calls and recorded their proximity to other tracked phones, they managed to create a precise picture of the various friendships and acquaintances in their study group based upon their movements. • Katherine Nadal, the 28-year-old Houston woman who cut off her infant son's genitals in 2007, has been sentenced to 99 years in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Police believe that Nadal was high at the time of the attack, and shortly afterward she tested positive for cocaine, methadone and Xanax. • The number of men taking child-care leave in Tokyo has decreased in the past several years, while the number of women taking leave has increased. The same survey found that men left the workplace for a much shorter time, with over half taking leave for less than a month. • While it's certainly a good thing that there are now more women in journalism school—in many programs, woman make up the majority of the students—this article, which claims ladies are more suited to "creative" careers like journalism, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. • A new study, to be published in the Harvard Business Review, indicates that there is no significant difference between the number of male M.B.A.s who were laid off during the first months of the recession and the number of female M.B.A.s. However, women have fared better overall, due to the relatively stable industries like health care and education, while male-dominated industries, including construction, have suffered. • Instead of hiring broke teenagers, thrifty parents are trading babysitting duties with their peers. Some parents are actually forming babysitting co-ops to widen the pool of free sitters. • Oprah's "power list" has been released in the latest issue of O magazine. The list, which is "heavy on politicos," features Lilly Ledbetter, Sheila Blair, Donna Brazile, and Melanie Sloan. •

So is she a bad mom or a bad feminist? Both, says Emma Burstall in a condescending piece in the Independent. Since she is psychic, Burstall can read Dati's emotions by looking at newspaper photos: "Behind the power suit and million-dollar smile I see only pain and heartache." Obviously Dati's return to work results from "a lack of confidence, and fear and insecurity about her job — mixed, perhaps, with a touch of swagger, of pathetic macho posturing."

All this is presumptuous, as is Burstall's assertion that her three maternity leaves make her an expert on what's best for every woman. But she does have a more interesting point — "it's a shame, [...] given her high-profile position, that she's signalling to employers that this is what job commitment really looks like." More difficult to dismiss than handwringing over Dati's health, emotions, and the well-being of her baby — all of which she probably knows more about than any journalist — is the idea that Dati is making motherhood and maternity leave harder for less powerful women by refusing to take it herself.

"You can all too easily imagine how this story percolates through to others," writes Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian, "the city boss who casually drops hints to his bright new pregnant protege that, perhaps, given the tough times, she might want to arrange a pre-planned caesarean and mark the time off as a weekend break. Or it may not even be direct pressure from the boss; it can be much more subtle." Lots of women, especially in the US where paid maternity leave is a perk, not a right, experience this subtle pressure frequently — every time anyone says that motherhood and commitment to a job are inherently incompatible. But is Rachida Dati really responsible for this pressure? According to former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal, Dati is actually a victim of it: Nicolas Sarkozy announced a major reorganization of the French justice system just days after she gave birth, forcing her to come in and deal with the consequences.

Just Five Days Off [Guardian]
Emma Burstall: New Mothers Have A Job Already — They Just Don't Go To The Office [Independent]
The Big Question: Is There An Optimum Time For A Woman To Go Back To Work After Giving Birth? [Independent]
Workplace Bullying Blamed For Dati's Return To Work [Independent]
Rachida Dati: From “Power Suits” To Maternity And Back Like A Boomerang [The F Word]

• Liposuction around the midsection does not have the same heart-helping properties as traditional weight loss methods, doctors say. • Two studies from the University of California, Berkeley, have found that mothers who take maternity leave both before and after giving birth require fewer C-sections and have healthier babies. • In the UK's biggest sex discrimination case, a Muslim woman is suing a bank for £16.7 million after accusing two managers of sex, race and religious discrimination. • Screw those what-color-are-you tests, where you sit on a bus is the legit way to determine your personality type. • A new series of short, New Jersey-based soap operas aims to promote safe sex among women. • In the UK, 3,500 students are suspended each year for sexual bullying. • A 10-week-old baby girl has died after her parents allegedly fed her half an ecstasy tablet. • Prenatal testing for genetic abnormalities may be linked to an increased risk of birthmarks. • An Illinois jeweler is selling senate seats. Sadly, the seats are 3/4-inch silver charms, and do not come with a free hairdo or hairbrush. • The Bush family's eighteen-year-old cat, India, died Sunday at the White House. •

• A study of the gynecological screening tests for cervical cancer in Sweden has found that immigrants from Norway, Denmark, and Central America are more likely to develop cervical cancer than Swedish nationals. • Germany has the largest wage gap between men and women in Western Europe, which is due in part to maternity leave and shortened hours for working moms and outright gender discrimination.• In related news: New laws in England that would extend maternity leave benefits to a full year and allow parents to demand flexible working hours have some "employment lawyers" worrying that employers will stop hiring women altogether. • Louise Glueck, former U.S. poet laureate, has been awarded the Wallace Stevens Award for "outstanding and proven mastery of the art of poetry." • Women's activists in Iran enjoyed a victory on Monday when Iran's parliament decided to shelve a proposed law that would allow husbands to take multiple wives without permission from their first spouse. • The victory was brief, however, as four Iranian women's activists were imprisoned on Tuesday for contributing to banned women's websites. • Darlene Harris, a police officer in Atlanta, tells the story of how she discovered at the age of 35 that she is an "intersexed" person, or someone whose internal or external sexual anatomy don't fit the typical definitions of female or male. •

Yes, there is a social expectation that women will be the primary caretaker of children, and it's great that the government takes some small steps to allow women to transition more easily back into the workforce and have flexible hours if they want them. But by putting those responsibilities solely on women, the government is basically saying that it is, in fact, a woman's role to be the primary caregiver. That's not actually a great thing for equality.

Duncan Fisher, who heads the British think tank the Fathers Institute, hits the nail on the head with two points: gender stereotypes in child-rearing are reinforced by unequal pay with which women struggle; and "allowing" women to transfer part of their government-mandated leave to their husbands does nothing to give men equal opportunities and continues to reinforce the idea that it is a woman's role.

Furthermore, both Brewer and Fisher pointed out that while it's great for the government to allow people to take leave, both genders struggle with the fact that actually doing so can cause harm to their careers. Brewer notes that many women are being ignored for positions because of the expectation that they will take their full year and ask for flexible hours, while Fisher notes that men are often looked down upon for taking time away from their careers to help rear their children.

It is great for a government to mandate employer-flexibility for parental leave, but it's crappy for both parents and the society as a whole when doing so continues to reinforce the stereotype that child-rearing is "women's work." It's also worse when it's tied up in issues like pay disparities (which the government is also trying to tackle). Parental leave issues are tied to equality both in the workplace and in society as a whole, and caught up in everything from child care costs and availability to the way "flexible" hours are viewed by employers to pay disparities and gender stereotypes. While the government can't mandate that fathers stay home or put an end to stereotypes about the appropriate gender roles in relationships, it could at least try not to reinforce outdated ideas of gender stereotypes like the idea that a stay-at-home dad is something so unusual.

Equality Laws 'Are Now Holding Women Back' [The Times]
Paid Maternity Leave Does Us No Favours Either, Say Fathers [The Times]

It seemed like the mothers and fathers featured in the article kept serious tallies of their chores and work and daily functions. While this certainly prevented bitterness from spouses (usually the wives) who felt they were doing the lion's share of the work, it seems like it could inspire an entirely new kind of discontent based on a life bereft of flexibility. Ironic, especially since the couples all negotiated their job situations in order to make their home time absolutely equal. Of course, it is a noble thing these couples are doing, and every marriage and childhood situation is one based on a series of discussions and compromises.

It doesn't help that American society makes it more difficult for men to stay at home, as Michelle Goodman points out in ABC News. Paternity leave, if granted at all, is typically one week. For a woman who had a C-section, "which meant she needed help doing everything from lifting the baby to her breast, to finding the time to brush her own teeth," a week is paltry indeed.

Belkin has a separate article about men who stay at home in today's Times, but this piece focuses on men who opt out while their wives continue working. According to Belkin, men often have a tougher time going back to work, as employers are even less sympathetic to holes in their resumes. What most women, and men, don't realize, says Belkin, is that you are most powerful when you are willing to leave. "But women were simply leaving rather than using their leverage to ask for the moon — a sharply decreased workload or increased salary or guarantee of a job upon return — on the chance they might get it. In recent years, women have negotiated more, a trend not lost on men." That seems to be the takeaway from all of these pieces: while your workplace might seem unfriendly to your procreation needs, there is often room for haggling, if you're just willing to put it out there.

When Mom And Dad Share It All [NYT]
Why Dad’s Résumé Lists ‘Car Pool’ [NYT]
Paternity Leave: When A Week Isn't Enough [ABC News]

• A new study shows that most female child molesters were victims of sexual abuse themselves. • Jordan has charged a man who allegedly killed his sister for having an extramarital affair. • Stephanie Pearl-McPhee calls herself the "yarn harlot" and keeps an eponymous blog about knitting. • Some conservative British politicians want to bar lesbians from receiving IVF treatment unless the potential child would have a "male role model" involved. • In the U.S., paid maternity leave is a luxury, not a right. "The United States provides the fewest maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and paid time off," when compared to nineteen equally rich countries, according to Time. • Overheard at the gay rodeo: "This is an all-American sport, and we are all-American people." • Queen Elizabeth tops the list of Live Science's 10 Most Powerful Modern Women Leaders. Also included: Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Not all of the responses to Chacón are so blatantly sexist, though many traffic in deeply held stereotypes of women. Some are saying that the appointment of a woman who lacks military training is sending a pacifist message — you know, 'cause wimmins hate war. Maribel Montaño, secretary for equality during Zapatero's first term, says that "a woman in full womanhood [leading troops]...shows that the army doesn't just have to fulfill this masculine role of force. It can be more feminine, more humanitarian." Zapatero has a record of anti-war decisions, for instance, NATO has been trying to get him to increase the number of Spanish troops in Afghanistan. He has resisted, so far.

Spanish citizens are also curious about what will happen two months from now when Chacón gives birth (Spain gives women 16 weeks of maternity leave). No doubt her continued professional excellence will quiet the right wing critics who are calling the women of Spain's cabinet an "army of seamstresses", but we predict Chacón will be fighting a more personal war at home... that of new-mother sleep deprivation.

Spain's Pregnant Defense Minister [Time]
Women Dominate Spanish Cabinet [BBC]
An 'Armchair Feminist' Who Conquered Spain [Guardian]

• Are the women behind now-shuttered feminist radio station Green Stone Media big ol' hypocrites? Former staffers say that Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda are refusing to pay severance and wouldn't file for bankruptcy because they were too embarrassed. The bigger news is that the NY Post is still using a retro term like "women's libber". Um, what's next, "feminazi"? [NY Post]
  
• A man who raped a 15-year old girl in his sleep was cleared of all charges. Apparently, his girlfriend's testimony that he sometimes fondles her while he's fast asleep (an affliction called "sexsomnia" — cute!) sealed the deal for the jury. Well, at least we know that when some concerned citizen sleepwalks into this guy's apartment at 4am and hatchets him to death, there will be an airtight defense. [Daily Telegraph]

• A 9-year old girl isn't allowed to fish, hike, and camp at a boy's only camp in the UK. She'd better quit crying, though, because her alternative summer activity is the Glamorous Girls program and everyone knows it's super hard to adhere false eyelashes to tears of rejection. [Globe And Mail]
• Big corporations like Price Waterhouse are apparently being more generous with female executives who take time off to raise children, assisting them in transitioning back into the workforce. Crappy companies will still fire your butt if you're not back on the fry station a week after your water breaks. [CNN]
• Gardasil only is appropriate for women up to age 26, but a new vaccine called Cervarix has arrived for women aged 27-45. The effectiveness is not yet known, but...yawn...we're kind of tired of hearing about our cervix, honestly. [Sydney Morning Herald]
• A US medical panel wants the recommended pregnancy weight gain guidelines reexamined and altered to reflect the country's obesity epidemic, saying that overweight moms should gain less during pregnancy than people with healthy weights. Way to take the fun out of being pregnant! [MSNBC]
• Feministing cites a new poll indicating that one out of five women are deciding against having children because of the high cost of childcare. The Duggars, meanwhile, are doing it on their behalf. [Feministing]

• The STD of yore, syphilis, is back, baby, and on the rise in New York City! This obviously has nothing to do with Zach Braff being in town all summer. [NY Times]
  
• Kate Hudson may think that men are whores by nature (and that it's okay!), but nerds beg to differ. UC Berkeley math professor Dr. David Gale says it's mathematically impossible for men to have more sexual partners than women — we would tell you more about the handy-dandy equation he uses to back up this claim, but we didn't quite get it. [NY Times]
  
• An alarming percentage of women are unaware that HPV can cause cervical cancer and even fewer know that there is a vaccine available. Now you know ladies, so get thee to Dr. Pap Smear and thank us later. [BBC News]
  
• A 13-year old Egyptian girl died during a circumcision procedure, only a few weeks after a similar death prompted health officials in the country to ban the heinous practice. [Fox News]

• Maryland police accidentally let a sexual assault suspect go after they arrested him for molesting a 9-year old girl. The perv is still on the loose. Way to fucking go, Maryland PD. [Fox News]
• Yay, Ohio! The state's Civil Rights Commission is pushing for companies with four or more employees to grant their workers 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, regardless of how long they've worked for the company. Wait, unpaid? That sorta sucks, actually. [NY Times]
• Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a Civil Rights pioneer whose refusal to make room for a white bus passenger preceded Rosa Parks by a decade, has died at the age of 90. [NY Times]
• Dr. Howard Judd, whose expertise in menopause led to significant advances in estrogen and hormone treatments, died at the age of 71. How he knew so much about hot flashes, we'll never know. [NY Times]
• A new study shows that taking a birth control pill for an extended period of time can affect fertility down the road. [Telegraph]
• The latest trend in bodice rippers comes out of Australia, as romance writers are penning hunky heroes that are more like your average Joe. Eh, we prefer the perviness of VC Andrews incest-laden paperbacks anyday. [Reuters]
• In the stupid legal battles department, some schmo is suing 1-800-Flowers for $1 million for revealing his affair to his wife. Something tells us he's going to have a hard time getting a date after this. [ABC News]
• We're not sure where we stand on the Mexico City street vendor debate — aside from the fact that we think the tacos are super tasty — but we do think the woman fighting the Mayor's plans to clean up the city is one bad-ass great grandma. [LA Times]

• Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, the "architect of fashion" (and favorite designer of Oprah Winfrey) died yesterday at the age of 62 from a brain hemorrhage. In addition to designing his own eponymous label, he created scandal by being [gasp!] an Italian overseeing Dior, from 1989-1996. Nonsensical statement from John Galliano surely TK. [IHT]
  
• Who will be Ferre's successor? You know the Italians: They're always soooo clear cut and undramatic about these fashion house leadership questions.. [WSJ]
  
• Oscar de la Renta is creating a line of baubles for his beloved ladies who lunch. The jewelry line will run under the kinda-gross name "O Oscar." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Gisele Bundchen: The highest paid-model of the year! Which proves, dears, that you don't have to be a flagrant cokehead and/or a 14-year old Slovenian girl to make a buck in this industry. [Vogue UK]
  
• Wal-Mart continues its ill-fated foray into fashion by ditching its employees' signature blue vest for a more "preppy" uniform. Memo to Wal-Mart: Maybe whenever you have an "instinct" about fashion, you should go ahead and do the opposite. [ABC News]

• Oh Posh, stop it with the lying: You don't eat. It's ok. We know. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Apparently if you are a WASP, it is offensive to be called one. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Pregnant women need not apply for modeling gigs at Calvin Klein. [WWD, 1st item]
• And yet according to Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, Cladia Schiffer is more beautiful today than she was during her supermodel heydey because she got married and had babies. [Vogue UK]
• If we didn't love Al Gore and, y'know, the environment or whatever, we would actually have hurled all over ourselves reading this: Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carine Roitfeld, Marghertia Missoni, and other vaguely conscience-y fashion types are designing limited edition t-shirts to benefit Gore's The Climate Project. [Vogue UK]