In November 2021, Marlène Schiappa, the minister delegate in charge of citizenship, confided that she suffered a miscarriage on the show An Intimate Ambition.
“I had an early pregnancy that didn’t go well and ended in a miscarriage that was complicated” she explained, before admitting to having feared the reactions of the political class: “at first I did not dare [le] say because politics is an ultra-competitive environment, when you have a fragility, people are not in empathy.“
The minister (aged 38 and mother of 2 children) testified a second time about this miscarriage on the program La Maison des Maternelles. “I spoke about it to other women, politicians or not, and I realized that it was extremely frequent. We don’t dare, we are a little ashamed and I don’t know why, because there is no shame.“
15% of pregnancies worldwide end in miscarriage
As a reminder, 23 million miscarriages occur each year in the world, which represents approximately 15% of all pregnancies.
Marlène Schiappa was lucky to be well supported through this painful ordeal: “my gynecologist told me: “Ask me all the questions you want”. I answered: “Is it my fault, I worked too much?”. She said, “Of course not,” it took a load off me.“
However, the Minister is not in favor of the creation of a “miscarriage leave”: “this can be stigmatizing and sick leave already exists. I’m sure the support can be improved.“Marlène Schiappa, however, pleads in favor of greater benevolence from companies towards women who have suffered a miscarriage:”if Matignon and the Élysée manage to replace a minister for three weeks, all employers in France can organize themselves“.
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