On Tuesday, Meghan Markle came up with the eighth episode of the Archetypes podcast titled Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom. This time, the Duchess welcomed the American actress Pamela Adlon, comedian-writer Sam Jay, and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau. Markle, along with her three guests, dissected and discussed the judgments passed on to women for the way they carry out themselves as mothers and wives. 

During the course of the interaction, Meghan Markle and Sophie Trudeau discussed an important aspect of pregnancy and early motherhood: paternal leave. The two women strongly advocated for paid paternal leaves in the United States. At present, the US is the only country of the 38 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development nations to not have provisions for paid maternity leave. 

Meghan Markle stresses the necessity of parental leave

Meghan Markle believes that it is high time for the United States to introduce the concept of paid parental leaves legally. The Duchess of Sussex believes that it is not good to put a new mother in a dilemma, choosing one between her child and a job. Notably, new parents in the US can take up to 12 weeks on unpaid parental leaves.

“Imagine having a baby and then having to make a choice of, ‘Oh I can stay home with my child but if I do, I won’t have a job anymore.’ It doesn’t make any sense,” Markle mentioned while speaking on the podcast. Trudeau also echoed the same sentiments as her dear friend by saying, “Parental leave across the world!”

Further in the podcast, Markle and Trudeau reflected on the evolving role of motherhood in the modern world. The two strong and opinionated women argued that it is not important to be a mother biologically to feel the essence of motherhood. The retired television host added that mothering is a way of being and even sisters, aunts, or friends can play the role of mother for a child.

Did you agree with Meghan Markle and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau’s views on parental leaves? Share with us in the comments.