Expecting mothers who miscarried or lost their child are standing in solidarity, calling for longer bereavement leave from work.
A new national campaign #WeNeedMoreLeave launched on International Women’s Day, prompting workers to speak out about losing their unborn child and needing to go back to work just two days later.
Under current legislation, women who miscarry, have a stillbirth or an infant loss are given two days bereavement leave — with many still bleeding, in pain and recovering from surgery during that time.
But, women's fertility and reproductive health service KIN — who is spearheading a campaign — has called on the federal government and businesses to extend that leave to 10 days.
Sydney woman Jen Vo-Phuoc, 33, who had two miscarriages in 2019 said she didn’t take much time off work because she didn't want to be seen as “dramatic”.
“I definitely should have taken time off because it added up to quite a lot of anxiety later,” she said.
“I had already experienced anxiety but it definitely did contribute to a lot of fear around my (third) pregnancy the whole way through.”
Ms Vo-Phuoc, who now has a two-year-old and is 27 weeks pregnant, said her previous miscarriages also affected her husband who felt “incredibly worried” and “paranoid” before giving birth to her son.
Victorian woman Alexandra Mason first had a stillborn at 21 weeks gestation the year before she fell pregnant with her now three-year-old daughter Greta before miscarrying at 13 weeks in her third pregnancy.
While working for an engineering company at the time she lost her first child, she needed four months off work to recover from the trauma.
“I was lucky because I worked for a company that had changed their parental leave policy … I was just one day over the cut off for what would have been classified as a miscarriage versus a stillborn so I was entitled to the same parental leave as someone who had a live baby,” Ms Mason said.
“The crazy thing was if it was one day earlier, I would have had to take sick leave or leave without pay.”
Ms Mason, 38, said the loss changed how she viewed the world and her level of empathy towards others and was “really hard” to deal with.
While her physical recovery period latest about three months, she said it took years to recover mentally.
“Aside from the obvious reasons of allowing women to recover physically and emotionally, it’s also a signal that you can send your employer has full acknowledgment of the journey that they’ve gone on.”
About one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage with many women feeling severe physical pain, bleeding, severe cramping and stomach pain, internal complications leading to surgery as well as weakness and lethargy for weeks or even months.
A national survey commissioned by KIN found 72 per cent of women did not feel emotionally ready to return to work when they did.
The data revealed seven days was the average amount of time it took women to physically recover after their miscarriage but 10 days was the preferred amount of time to have off work.
It meant women needed to use their other leave entitlements, with 58 per cent using sick leave, 18 per cent used unpaid leave while 14 per cent used paid annual leave.
While Kin Fertility Founder Nicole Liu said it was a “great” step for the federal government to mandate two days of additional miscarriage leave last year, she said the data showed it needed to go further.
“When you think about the doctor’s appointment, medical treatments, it takes time not only to physically recover but there is the emotional toll as well … two days is not enough time,” she said.
“If businesses change, society benefits. It just feels like thexjmtzyw right thing to do.”
She said women who returned to work too early also reported their productivity was impacted.
So far, about 35 businesses have signed up to the campaign and agreed to offer the extended bereavement leave.
Corporate counsellor Pamela Pazmino Espin said returning to work too early could impact a woman’s grieving process, self-esteem, self-confidence, their performance at work and could lead to anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder
“If you miscarry after going through that pre-pregnancy journey, it can be very debilitating and have an impact on future pregnancies and how (women) feel about falling pregnant,” she said.
Ms Pazmino Espin said not being judgmental and creating a comfortable space where women could talk about their experience were positive steps employers could take.
For more information about the campaign, go online.
