Canterbury egg donor calls for fairer workplace treatment for those involved in IVF

KentOnline / KMTV

Egg donor Olivia France has issued a nationwide call for fairer treatment in the workplace for IVF patients  The move comes as part of a wider initiative to tackle the stigma around fertility in the workplace, as Meghan Shaw's been finding out...

Transcript

00:00Imagine spending two weeks injecting yourself with hormones before undergoing a surgical

00:06procedure all while needing to go to work as usual. This was the experience of Canterbury

00:12resident Olivia France who has donated her eggs twice this year. Two weeks of injecting

00:19sort of twice a day with the different hormones and then and then you'd book in for your procedure

00:25and had to go up to London for that. So that was yeah going up early morning having the procedure

00:34which was just a day procedure under sedation and then sort of they check you a couple of hours

00:40later then just you know head home. One in 153 children in the UK are conceived using donors

00:50and yet there are no legal rights around seeking fertility treatment and therefore no paid leave

00:56by law for those like Olivia with extra appointments and circumstances. She feels this needs to change.

01:03Do I take sick leave? Is there paid leave for this? And I found it quite a difficult one to navigate

01:12sort of reading all the procedures and policies and going through the fine print of like well

01:15where do I actually fall in and can I take you know paid leave for this or not? And absolutely I think

01:21it is something that women should be allowed paid leave for. But for employers is implementing robust

01:28company policy for those like Olivia a viable option? The answer really is that employers are often

01:35reluctant to give rights where they don't exist in law from fear of creating precedence and

01:45you know sort of perhaps enabling someone to ask for time off for a different reason to say to point

01:51at an individual and say well you allowed for time off um on you know that occasion for someone's

01:58IVF treatment why can't you allow me pay time off for you know let's say some other. For Olivia who

02:04donates some eggs to a clinic and freezes the rest for a possible future and for others undergoing IVF

02:11treatments the movement might be about more than just pay. It is a shame that we are not understanding

02:18this big change in the society because we all should look at women in a different way now we

02:23should give them the freedom to get pregnant when they think is the right time for them

02:30and they need to be supported and it shouldn't be a way to hide themselves. With the government's

02:37employment rights bill in its final stages and with its emphasis on a flexible working environment

02:43this could be fertile ground for the kind of change these advocates might want to see.

02:50Megan Shaw for KNTV in Canterbury

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended