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THE EQUALITY AUTHORITY has said that it is working with a woman who is seeking maternity benefit after becoming a mother via a surrogate.
The case was outlined in the Authority’s annual report for 2011, which was published this week.
The woman could no longer support a pregnancy due to a serious cancer, and she and her husband availed of a surrogacy service. The case was not successful before the Equality Tribunal as there is no legislation with recognises the needs of those who conceive via surrogacy.
The Equality Authority has said that it has received other complaints with regard to supports for surrogate parents, and is advocating that legislation in this matter should be introduced.
The ‘ground-breaking’ case of Louise Hannon is also highlighted in the report. Ms Hannon, a transgender woman, was found to have been discriminated against at work and was awarded €35,000 by the Equality Tribunal. She waived her right to anonymity in order to publicise the case, and wrote earlier this year that the struggle for legal gender recognition continues.
The annual report for 2011 reveals that the Authority has seen a decrease in the overall queries received compared to 2010, when the group said it experienced a “huge surge” in equality-related queries.
Increase in the number of casefiles by 40 while the number of applications for representation by the Equality Authority increased from 15 to 23.
The most significant event as identified by the chairperson Angela Kerins was the olan announced by the government in September 2011 to merge the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
The merger is now underway, but it has been met with criticism in the past. The Equality and Rights Alliance – a coalition of over 170 organisations – has expressed concern about the lack of commitment to additional staffing and resources.
Family leave accounted for 56 per cent of enquiries, while gender, disability and age were the key areas of enquiry under the Equal Status Acts.
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Don’t mothers of adopted children get parental leave? I don’t see that this is much different. This woman should have the same rights as any other new mother.
Why should men get the same entitlements as women when it comes to maternity leave ?? Women naturally need time to physically recover after the birth !! Let them take holidays after the birth if they want to be around to help….we live in an age where everyone feels entitled to everything !!
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You’ve answered your own question the moment you said
“women naturally need time to physically recover after the birth!!”
PRECISELY why their partners should be entitled to equal paid leave so that they can give mum plenty of rest and recover time, take care of the new baby and keep the house in order.
There’s also many women who would prefer to go back to work pretty soon and why shouldn’t dad be able to take paid time out in that instance so that mum has that option?
Your arrogance and narrow mindedness is astonishing: “let them take holidays!”
The Marie Antoinette of equality, eh?
Wish my husband got a decent amount of leave after I had my son,had a section and found it very hard on my own. Definitely needed the rest. He took 2 weeks holiday last time and will be doing it this time as well. Think it’s pretty crap he couldn’t stay at home longer
She did not give birth to this child. Any parental leave should be the same as those extended to fathers, which is to say little or none. As usual, the ‘EQUALITY AUTHORITY’ is only interested in the equality of one gender. What a joke!
Indeed. In Sweden, they get 16 months per child which can be divided between both parents (PAID! – up to a limit).
In Ireland the father is entitled to ZERO paid days off. Some Equality please, eh?
It’s not about whether she gave birth to the child. An adoptive mother would be entitled to the same leave.
If men have a problem with parental leave, why on earth aren’t they contacting the Equality Authority themselves, like this woman did? If one woman can fight this battle alone, what’s stopping a group of men get together to fight for paternal leave? Commenting on the internet won’t get your cause anywhere, taking decisive action will.
There’s also the issue of physical recovery after giving birth. That takes at least six weeks.
have your say