Facebook And Apple Pay For Female Employees To Freeze Their Eggs, But Is This Progressive Or Regressive?
Facebook And Apple Pay Employees To Freeze Their Eggs
Rachel Moss— The Huffington Post UK
|
Apple and Facebook have announced they pay for female employees to freeze their eggs. And, understandably, the news has divided opinion.
Although the scheme is designed to appeal to women, the move has reignited debate about the role of women, motherhood and work.
Financial support to freeze eggs is just one of the new offers from Apple, including a new extended maternity leave policy.
Open Image Modal
In recent years there has been a surge in the amount of women choosing to postpone motherhood, with some even attending 'egg freezing parties' alongside their friends.
"In this day and age, many young women attend university, focus on their careers, and don't even settle down in to a relationship until their 30s - it is becoming more and more common for a woman to start thinking about children in her late 30s or early 40s when her best fertile years have passed.
"For many women who are trying to conceive in this age bracket, conception is difficult and then they are faced with the prospect of undergoing IVF, which can be expensive and is less successful on women of advanced maternal age," she said.
The egg freezing schemes from Apple and Facebook are designed to appeal to women like those Montgomery describes, who may want to focus on their career but not sacrifice their chance of motherhood in the future.
It is undeniable that if a women decides she wants to delay motherhood, an employer's offer to foot the bill will make egg freezing available to many who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it.
Facebook is offering support for egg freezing now, while Apple will make the same offer open to employees from January 2015.
According to NBC, in America egg freezing costs around $10,000 (£6,300) for every round, plus $500 (£314) or more annually for storage. Doctors often recommend women freeze at least 20 eggs, which can require two rounds of treatment.
Up to $20,000 (£12,600), will be offered to Apple and Facebook employees to help cover the cost of freezing eggs.
"The development of egg vitrification is a ground-breaking development in its ability to empower women and provide them with the freedom to choose when they have their children, and for these reasons I believe it to be a key milestone on the road to gender equality," she said.
Some on Twitter have also described the move by the tech giants as "progressive".
But others do not see the news as such a positive. The policy has been called "creepy" by some Twitter users while others have aired concerns that fertility is being used as a company "perk".
Perhaps the key thing to remember is that egg freezing is a great option for some women, and Facebook and Apple have now made that option available to many more employees.
But women (or men for that matter) should never feel under pressure to delay parenthood - companies should provide support, whenever their employees decide to have children.
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.
As Oliver Black, founder of My Family Care, has said: "This looks like an amazing benefit from industry innovators but it’s only great if it’s matched by great working practices and benefits that support employees that decide to press ahead with families earlier in their careers. It needs to be an added benefit – not a demand.”
10 Things You May Not Know About Your Fertility
(01 of10)
Open Image Modal
1. Your fertility is mostly determined by genetics, which influences how many eggs you are born with. Doctors believe that the number of eggs you have at birth determines the length of time you will remain fertile. At birth, women have about two million eggs in their ovaries. For every egg ovulated during your reproductive life, about 1,000 eggs undergo programmed cell death. Other things, such as smoking cigarettes and certain types of chemotherapy, can accelerate egg cell death and promote an earlier menopause.
(02 of10)
Open Image Modal
2. Regular menstrual cycles are a sign of regular ovulation.Most women have regular cycles lasting between 24 and 35 days. This is usually a sign of regular, predictable ovulation. Women who do not ovulate regularly have irregular menstrual cycles. Those who do not ovulate at all may have a genetic condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
(03 of10)
Open Image Modal
3. Basal temperature charting does not predict ovulation.An older method of tracking ovulation involves taking your oral body temperature each morning before getting out of bed. This is called basal body temperature. This method is used to spot a rise in basal temperature, which is a sign that progesterone is being produced. The main problem with using this method is that your temperature rises after ovulation has already occurred. This makes it more difficult to time intercourse at an optimal time for conception. A better method is to use over-the-counter urine ovulation predictor test kits such as Clearblue Easy. These kits test for the hormone that prompts ovulation, which is called luteinizing hormone (LH).
(04 of10)
Open Image Modal
4. Most women with blocked fallopian tubes are completely unaware they may have had a prior pelvic infection.About 10 percent of infertility cases are due to tubal disease, either complete blockage or pelvic scarring causing tubal malfunction. One major cause of tubal disease is a prior pelvic infection from a sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia. These infections can cause so few symptoms that you may be completely unaware your tubes are affected. This is why fertility physicians will order a dye test of the tubes, called a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), if you have been trying and failing to conceive for 6 months or longer.
(05 of10)
Open Image Modal
5. In most cases, stress does not cause infertility. Except in rare cases of extreme physical or emotional distress, women will keep ovulating regularly. Conceiving while on vacation is likely less about relaxation than about coincidence and good timing of sex.
(06 of10)
Open Image Modal
6. By age 44, most women are infertile, even if they are still ovulating regularly. Even with significant fertility treatment, rates of conception are very low after age 43. Most women who conceive in their mid-40s with fertility treatment are using donated eggs from younger women.
(07 of10)
Open Image Modal
7. Having fathered a pregnancy in the past does not guarantee fertility. Sperm counts can change quite a bit with time, so never assume that a prior pregnancy guarantees fertile sperm. Obtaining a semen analysis is the only way to be sure the sperm are still healthy!
(08 of10)
Open Image Modal
8. For the most part, diet has little or nothing to do with fertility. Despite popular press, there is little scientific data showing that a particular diet or food promotes fertility. One limited study did suggest a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, fish and legumes may help promote fertility.
(09 of10)
Open Image Modal
9. Vitamin D may improve results of fertility treatments. A recent study from the University of Southern California suggested that women who were undergoing fertility treatments, but had low vitamin D levels, might have lower rates of conception. This vitamin is also essential during pregnancy. At Pacific Fertility Center, we recommend our patients take 2,000-4,000 IU per day.
(10 of10)
Open Image Modal
10. Being either underweight or overweight is clearly linked with lowered levels of fertility. The evidence in recent years is that obesity is clearly linked with a longer time to conception. Having a body mass index less than 18 or over 32 is associated with problems ovulating and conceiving, as well as problems during pregnancy.