IELTS Essay Topic: Maternity Leave

In the last few months, the topic of maternity leave was given in IELTS writing task 2. Maternity leave means paid leave given to women who are going to have a baby. They are paid during the months they do not work by the company they work for and can return to their position at the end of their paid leave.

Below are some ideas that you can use for this topic.

Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments box below.

Question: What are the advantages and disadvantages to maternity leave?

Advantages of Maternity Leave

  • Women no longer need to choose between a career and having a family.
  • Women will be able to enjoy time with their newborn baby without financial concerns.
  • Parents will be better able to afford the necessary medical care for both mother and baby.
  • Companies will be able to keep a good member of staff.

Disadvantages of Maternity Leave

  • Small companies are not able to afford to pay women for maternity leave.
  • Companies will need to find a temporary replacement for the work which might not be easy.
  • When mothers return to work they will not be up-to-date with recent developments in the company.
  • Maternity leave encourages women to continue working rather than staying at home to raise a child.

Can you think of more advantages and disadvantages?

Post your comments below.

 

Comments

  1. Vera Liu says

    Baby can get better healthcare, such as breast feeding

  2. Harry says

    Hi liz
    Maternity leave adv that it give time to look after her health .
    Devote her time to childcare
    Secure job

  3. ARUN KUMAR KOTA says

    Advantage
    This would be a huge support not only for women but also a family, as they can completely focus on the new arrival instead of job,medical expenses

    Disadvantage
    Most of the women would like to return to the work.This will effect new born child health

  4. Hello mam, my ielts teacher told me that the opinion we are following in agree/ disagree essay should be writen in the second body paragraph. So please tell me is it important?
    Thank you.

    • Your opinion must be given in the introduction and explained in the body paragraph. The opinion must be the same throughout the entire essay.

  5. Vikas sharma says

    advantage –
    Maternity leave is most important factor in the society and for the development of human kind. Maternity leave is not only concerned with the women and the employers’ benefit, it’s about those children who are going to be our next generation of human. Mother’s love, affection and breast milk are vital for babies mental and physical development. Some weeks of Leave will be overridden by the return of beautiful next generation
    2- Study says that maternity leave is beneficial to reduce Infant morality rate

    dis –
    although disadvantages are negligible as compare to long term advantages, but in short term companies are not willing to give employment to female candidates, which creates disparity in the society.

  6. Maternity paid leave helps in reducing the maternal and child mortality rate as it gives the mother enough time to recover from the effects of pregnancy and labour,physically and psychologically.This also gives the baby time to get the nutritional benefits of breastmilk thus preventing the baby from getting sick .

  7. XIOMARA says

    ADVANTAGE:

    The mother can be to take care her baby and provide breasfteeding and ending her postpartum period in good conditions.

    DISADVANTAGE:

    Companies doesn´t like to contract women of childbearing because they’ll have to pay her maternity leave and contract another person to cover that time.

  8. I thought about something as an advantage:

    The paid maternity leave encourages the youth to marry and have kids as raising a child became very hard and costing nowadays.

  9. Harjot Singh says

    Hlo mam

    What is the correct pattern for writting task 2
    American or British

    Thank you

  10. Hi liz can we get good score by writing the passive sentences

    • Your grammar score is not based only on passive voice sentences. It’s not so simple. Using passive voice at the right time, in the right context will help but if you use it at the wrong time, in the wrong way, it will lower your score.

  11. Being a task 2 topic, do the pros and cons make up 250 characters? That is some challenge.

  12. TAREK SAYS
    THIS MATERNITY LEAVE MUST BE CONSIDER THE CAPACITY OF WORKER IN THE COMPANIES ,SMALL COMPANY NOT LIKE LARGE OR OVER SEAS COMPANY.
    HOE MUSH THE SAME PERSON WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE THIS BENIFIT.

  13. Maternity leave encourages high birth rate , if companies did not offer paid leave it could discourage female employees to have children. Consequently it leads to low birth rate and shrinking population which could result in shortage of workforce and economic stagnation in the future.

  14. This was my ielts task 2 question last September 30, 2017

    Opinion essay. Maternity leave from companies. Do you think advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

  15. Advantage
    During the maternity leave, mother can take care of her baby, they need only breast feeding untill 6 month.

  16. Rahmathbaree p says

    Hi Liz
    I would like to ask you one question and hope you will reply soon.If the maternity leave is not a paid one , can’t we say it’s a maternity leave.?
    Thanks in advance

    • No. If it states “unpaid leave” then you can see it is unpaid, but if it is written only as “leave” then it is paid.

  17. Faraanak says

    Advantage: The company will be welcoming back to her and they have used the benefit of old staff in advance.
    Disadvantage: The company will be spending a period of time without her (in this gap )by applying new staff or use their employees with overwork.

  18. Advantages:
    1. Child will get proper mother care and presumably father is less likely to worry about this concern.
    2. Mother can be able to invest ample time for his newly born baby
    3. Mother will be able to feed his baby of her own milk instead of artificial milk.
    Disadvantages:
    1. Company needs extra manpower to fulfil her position for certain days.
    2. Newcomers may disrupt her pre-planned working environment, and however, when she becomes back in his position find something difficult.
    3. Company may employ him at another positon where she never want to see herself.

  19. correction:

    disadvantage

    The mothers will always be distracted when they return to office but have to worry about the care of the baby at home.

  20. disadvantage

    The mothers will always be distracted when they return to the office but have to aware the care of the baby at home.

  21. Harpreet Kaur says

    Disadvantage:
    Some small and medium-scale companies might prefer hiring male employees more to get rid of onus to provide maternity leave to female employees. Therefore, it could result in less employment opportunities for women.

  22. Israel Iyamu says

    Advantages:
    1. The company will be regarded as gender friendly.
    2. It will entrench staff loyalty and brand enhancement.
    Disadvantages:
    1. Too many staffs going on maternity leave at same time may cause service disruption at work place.
    2. New born not within the reach of nursing mothers can be a major source of distraction to productivity.

  23. Geoseedorph says

    Advantage
    It’s a good package for the employee and can get workers attracted to the company and in turn boost their loyalty.
    Disadvantage
    It increases company’s cost in term of temporary replacement and also retraining of the employee after returning.

  24. Rubina Joseph says

    In my Opinion Maternity Leaves are very important for every working woman as she undergoes a lot of changes physically and mentally. When I say Physically I mean that the woman might have C- Section or the tough time she had faced all 9 months. She needs some time to come to a normal condition as before so her body can heal up and mind refreshes because she not only faces the physical pain but mentally her whole routine changes as she has to take care of the new Bee. It is not a small responsibility. I m truly starting to agree why there is so much importance of Mothers in the world as she pays a huge cost of it without expecting the out come of it. She keeps awake and takes care of the baby. She hardly takes rest during this maternity time period. The woman should be given paid maternity leave so she can spend some quality time with her baby and can get physically and mentally fit. The companies should support the maternity leave without giving a pressure of Job to a Woman.

  25. Advantage. ….women who suffer post nartem depression are able to heal reasonably befor returning to work.
    Demerit
    It makes some women to give birth on yearly basis

  26. Advantages:
    #company will be considered as a family of their own by the staff when they recognize the need of a materniry leave to recover from postnatal tiredness.This makes the staff to be more faithful to the companies and encourages them to participate in team work.
    #Post natal depression is quite common in most of the mothers,which leads to some mistakes at their work. To keep up reputation of Companies , idea of metarnity leve works better in reducing errors.
    #women usually make a come back to work with good and healthy energy levels after a long maternity leave which helps to bring up more benefits to the companies.
    Disadvantages:
    #organization may struggle with shortage of staff especially if many people require maternity leave at the same time,because this leave is unpredictable and un avoidable.
    #Un necessary distrubences and errors are possible in the workflow due to the diploied staff as they are not familier with the old staff ‘s departement and work pattern.
    #After finishing maternity leave the staff may loose their own department due to adjustments ,which leads some unhappiness as they loose their comfortable working zone.

  27. One of the advantages of maternity leave is that women get some time to heal mentally and physically and despite new challenging life mother doesn’t have to worry about challenges outside world.She can concentrate efficiently on new roles and responsibilities.
    However disadvantage is that women have to remain self-confident when she returns to work and catch-up with new technologies.

  28. Engy Aly says

    Advantages:
    The mother can easily care about her health and her newborn alike.
    The family can maintain its standard of living even with the presence of a new member as the salary given by the company enable the family to afford their infant’s requirements.
    It is a gesture of appreciation from the company to its employee.this brings a sense of stability as the staffer will not be got redundant just for being a mother .as a result the family will not hinder the employer’s career prospects.

  29. Advantages of maternity leave:
    1. Women who become the mother are more powerful and can manage their time precisely and become more successful as a manager.
    2.Mothers have more passion and motivation for their life by having their families.
    3.Mothers are more flexible in challenging circumstances.
    Disadvantages of maternity leave:
    1.After the maternity leave, mothers have to leave their work and stay at home when their babies are ill or have a problem.

  30. Supraja says

    Advantages:

    1) New born baby can get mother milk and avoid nutrition deficiency issues.
    2) New mother will get enough time to heal after child birth.

    Disadvantages:

    1) Employers has to get temporary replacement, which is quite challenging.
    2) If another employee is not available for replacement then work load will increase for rest of the team members.

  31. Oluwole Bobxie says

    Disadvantage, it may lead to a loss of a key staff because it may be an opportunity for a staff to look elsewhere.

  32. Oluwole Bobxie says

    Another advantage of ML is, it helps the company to have an idea of a perfect replacement for such a staff, especially in any case of an unforeseen events. The company will not be caught unawares.

  33. Khubroo says

    Pros of maternity leave is… that mother can give quality time to their newbown baby which is essential in the early stage..

  34. Oluwole Bobxie says

    Advantages. ML offers the nursing motherv an opportunity to recover better, and preparing her for future work challenges.

  35. Eloísa says

    Another advantage is that, during and because of the maternity leave, mothers can breastfeed their babies and rise more healthy children. For the society, it is a good thing, because it reduces the health costs for government and, consequently, for society.
    A disadvantage is that maternity leave is expensive for companies. They have to hire a substitute for the woman that is going to have a baby or pass throught that period producing less than they where producing before. It may make companies avoid hiring women, causing unemployment among them.

  36. Advantage – Maternity leave allows women to breastfeed their babies exclusively, especially in the first six months of life. Breastfeeding is more beneficial to the mother and child compared to formula feeding.

  37. Advantages of maternity leave
    1. It enables the baby to bond with the mother as they are able to spend quality time together.

  38. Hi Liz, thank you.

  39. Shailja says

    Advantages of maternity leave is women go through a lot during pregnancy and there are times when they have appointments with doctors and lot of tests happens during this phase so looking at all the perspectives it’s a special moment and the most precious period for every women so live it to its fullest should be the main consideration

  40. wisdom okwamba says

    Advantages.
    1. It will strengthen family ties within the period.
    2. Rejuvinates the staff and increases mental and physical wellbeing of the staff and prepare staff for new task
    3. Leave allowances improves the income of the staff.
    4. It helps the company to reshuffle its staff and oganogram.
    Disadvantages.
    1. It reduces the speed or stalls the company’s programme especially when there is no replacement.
    2. Causes loss of jobs or demotion in cases where the staff is replaced by a new staff with more experience.
    3. Reduces company’s output.

  41. Shailja says

    Nowadays it’s not much of a disadvantage that you can’t keep update of recent developments in the company. It’s a high tech world now everything is just a click away so keep yourself up to date and keep on communicating

  42. Shailja says

    Nowadays it’s not much of a disadvantage that you can’t keep update of recent developments in the company. It’s a high tech world now everything is just a click away so keep yourself up to date and keep on communicating

  43. Shailja says

    Advantages of maternity leave is women go through a lot during pregnancy and there are times when they have appointments with doctors and lot of tests happens during this phase so looking at all the perspectives it’s a special moment and the most precious period for every women so live it to its fullest should be the main consideration.

  44. Moternity leave has some health advantages also ,and will improve their wellbeing and general health condition both mental and physical condition.

    Another disadvantages of maternity leave is losing of skilfulnees of a woman to some extent after a long period of time due to this leave.

  45. Women can have health benefit by getting enough time to get recovered
    New born baby can be breast feed in regular interval which is good for both mother and baby health.

  46. Mohmmad hussain anshary says

    Advantage of maternity leave is, one can get better care during pregnancy period. Respecting or showing the concerned towards women problem which bring healthy enviroment.the disadvantage is increase in staff expenditure

  47. Chibuzo says

    Advantage: Maternity leave allows women enough time to heal after child birth.

    Disadvantage: Some women may abuse the privilege and get pregnant year in year out,this obviously won’t be good for the company.

  48. Sumit Saluja says

    Advantages –

    1. Companies will be able to have better diversity ratio in their organisations.
    2. Companies will be looked as more progressive in their thought process, enabling them to have better brand in the industry & will not only attract talent but reduce attrition.

  49. Rachmat Baihaky says

    Advantages
    Women can retain their biological nature and contribute to the total population especially in some developed countries

    Disadvantage
    Maternity leave can give negative impact to company’s productivity when several women in a same division or an office have to take maternity leave at the same time

  50. Samir sapariya says

    In disadvantages side :
    Women now has to pay more attension at the baby rather then work where in work becomes deprioritiesd by them after quite some time (as responsibility has increased )

  51. Advantages of maternity leave
    In some countries government has made it compulsory for fathers as well, to take paternity leave along with mothers so that both child and mother can be helped out in such needy times.

    • Advantage
      Spending quality time with the baby
      Having time to recover from the adversity of pregnancy and baby delivery .
      Not having financial worries while staying home
      Disadvantage
      Not being updated with work and losing grip from job related activities
      Danger of losing job permanently (being fired) if the replacement performs better
      Risk of missing job promotions due to the absence

      • Maternity leave fortifies bonding between mother and baby. It is of utmost important for every baby to get exclusive breast feeding before the initiation of weaning. The provision of maternity leave permits each post natal mother to feed her baby minimum of six month and this will strengthen the mother and child relation. In addition to that, during maternity leave a mother is able to spend quality time with her baby this would have certain positive impact on the normal growth and development of the child. To cite an example, the continuous presence of a mother would create trust in child towards the caregiver as well as it would entice them to start early socialization.
        However, one cannot entirely overlook certain disadvantages of maternity leave. The long holidays of employees with payment may disturb the economic status of the employer. The faculty on maternity leave cannot work for the corporate so that the authority has to recruit someone on a temporary base and also has to provide the salary as same as the permanent staff. This could hassle the financial stability of the company. Maternity leave not only disturb the corporate but also the mothers when they rejoin in the company. The long gap entices each mother to move away from their job as they do not have enough information regarding new developments in the organization. This could diminish their productivity and certainly it hinders development of the company.

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