Egg Freezing Is Fine, but Make Work Easier for Parenthood

New Silicon Valley benefit is only part of the picture: pundits
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2014 1:14 PM CDT
Egg Freezing Is Fine, but Make Work Easier for Parenthood
An embryologist works on a petri dish at the Create Health fertility clinic in south London.   (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Facebook and Apple will pay for female employees to freeze their eggs, which is being hailed in some corners as a progressive step for women in the workplace. But is it really? wonders Jenni Avins at Quark. "Perhaps equally empowering, if not more so, would be the creation of career tracks that are more amenable to parenthood (and motherhood in particular), along with more generous policies regarding parental leave and childcare," she writes. Both tech giants are actually better than most American employers when it comes to maternity benefits, adds Avins, though she can't help but notice that Facebook's fancy new campus will have a day care for dogs but not for children.

At the Huffington Post, Rachel Moss sounds mostly positive about the new benefit but raises the possibility of workers feeling pressured to delay parenthood now that it's available. "It's fantastic that egg freezing has been presented as an option for women who wish to succeed in business, but it should never become a prerequisite." She quotes Oliver Black, the founder of My Family Care, who says the new perk could indeed be "amazing," but only if it's presented in tandem with benefits and support for those who decide not to freeze their eggs and to start their families immediately. Click for the full post, or to read Avins' full post. (More Facebook stories.)

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