The Telegraph uses the royal family to promote shorter maternity leave and gets dragged on Twitter

Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton
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The Duchess of Cambridge has resumed her royal duties after five months of maternity leave. On 2 September, she was reported as ‘returning to work’, along with photographs of her at a wildlife garden in London.

The Telegraph decided to publish an article praising the short period of leave. The article claimed shorter maternity leave “should be normal” for everyone. Of course, the commoners disagreed.

Nannies

Many pointed out that it’s much easier to take a shorter period of maternity leave when you have extra paid help:

Read on...

‘Work’

In particular, people are wary of describing the Duchess’s royal duties as “work”. Along with the fact that the taxpayer is still footing the bill for the royal family:

Anger

Some people were angry at the suggestion that taking shorter maternity leave is feminist and empowering. The Telegraph is clearly unaware of the struggles of most working mothers:

https://twitter.com/stillicides/status/1047147255323602945

Torygraph

The whole debate has provoked criticism of the Telegraph. And people have commented on how out of touch it is with most people:

Maternity leave is a hard-earned right which is vital in helping women get into work. And the circumstances of every woman who goes on maternity leave vary a great deal.

So to suggest that shorter maternity leave “should be normal” is bad enough. But to do so using the example of a royal whose childcare is funded by taxpayers? Well, that’s just plain stupid. Although, can we really expect any better from the Torygraph?

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– Check out and support this campaign for extended maternity leave by mums of premature babies.

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