You would pick tonight to start this thread, when I haven't got the energy to explain anything in depth, let alone why maternity leave is a good thing. I know you must have heard all the reasons before.
For me it boils down to the inequity that exists with parenting. Generally two people decide to create a baby. Thing is only one person (the female) sacrifices time out of the workforce & her wages to carry, deliver and nurture, so why shouldn't we recognise that time out period?
Why is it that the woman sacrifices the wages (and the super payments) to bear and raise the baby? The workforce is not treating fathers and mothers equally when it comes to parenting. She is penalised for being a mother by either having to leave her job, or return to it sooner than she should after the birth.
If she leaves the workforce to have the baby, she loses super while not working. Once child rearing is over, she returns to the workforce in lesser skilled or lower paid roles. Thing is, someone needs to have the baby and raise it. Generally that is the mother, so generally it ends up being women in the lower paid casual roles.
I don't believe any mum should have their super stopped and be forced to return to the workforce too soon. Why is the maternity period not recognised as a necessary cost of raising our future workforce? If there weren't plenty of people out there choosing to have babies, Australia would be in trouble. We need more babies
http://www.austlii.org/au/journals/HRD/2002/26.html
http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/paid_maternity_leave/
As a community I think we need to put more effort into valuing the roles of caring, nurturing and raising children. I applaud mums bearing children and Dads actually raising them if it suits that particular family unit. I like the idea of that kind of flexibility (call it parenting leave if necessary), just so long as actually having children is recognised as a contribution to society that requires recognition through workplace legislation.
I know my child rearing has meant that I have very little in the way of super. Thats a prime reason why I need my property investments to do well. But a lot of women simply don't have alternative investment strategies to fall back on.