From here to 'Meternity': US Writer stokes debate over family leave
Meghann Foye's fictional work about faking a pregnancy strikes a nerve on a real issue, but she says her message was misinterpreted
Should women who don't have children be able to take maternity leave?
Author Meghann Foye, 38, sparked criticism after her new book, "Meternity", was published. The fictional novel is about a 31-year old woman who fakes a pregnancy so "she'll get what she perceives is the rights and privileges of the moms on staff" Foye explains.
The book was inspired in part by Foye's own self-financed sabbatical, which she took around the time many of her friends and co-workers were having children.
The New York Post ran a story about Foye's break—using the attention grabbing headline "I want all the perks of maternity leave—without having any kids." The story sparked online outrage, as well as a broader discussion.
The novelist, however, said the New York Post misinterpreted her message.
"It was really just meant to be my personal story—and I had called it a 'meternity leave' but basically just as a joke to myself because all my friends were having kids," she said.
Maternity leave is already a controversial topic in the U.S., which is the only developed nation without federally mandated paid maternity leave. Times are changing, however. as workplaces to some degree have become more flexible.