Maternity Leave

Maternity leave damages careers. What should be done? Abolish it, or make it compulsory for men and women to share this?

There are some very interesting ideas in the Times online and I also heard the matter being discussed on Radio 2 today.

My solution? Let's give parental leave, to be shared between father and mother, and a recognition by those without children that their future health care and pensions may be in part guaranteed by those children, who are the responsibility and the future of all of us.