What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maternity Leave - IELTS Writing Task 2 Advantage/Disadvantage Essay

In the IELTS Writing Task 2 advantages and disadvantages essays, you will be asked to write the benefits and disadvantages of the given topic. You must be careful that you write the advantages and disadvantages of the topic given and not your opinion about the topic. 

To help you understand these IELTS advantages/disadvantages essays better, below is a sample essay on the topic, 'What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maternity Leave' along with a vocabulary section. 

As the IELTS Writing Task 2 essay given below is an advantage or disadvantage type, you have to write the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the given topic. So why wait? Let us begin!

What are the advantages and disadvantages of maternity leave? Which side do you feel outweighs the other?

Question

You should spend 40 minutes on this.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of maternity leave? Which side do you feel outweighs the other?

Write at least 250 words.

Structure Breakdown 

Remember, planning an outline for an essay in the IELTS Writing plays an important role in getting you a band of 8+. Hence, look at the structure breakdown below for the “What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maternity Leave” essay. 

Band 9 Sample Answer - What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maternity Leave

Motherhood is a crucial part of most women’s lives. Due to this, even working, independent women need a break when they are about to become mothers. Although there is unified support for maternity leaves, many mothers are forced to sacrifice their careers for the upbringing of their children. The subsequent paragraphs of this essay will discuss whether maternity benefits are necessary for working women to balance their career and family or they are useless.

Indeed, there are innumerable benefits of maternity leave. As a result,  countries have maternity laws for the welfare of working women. Firstly, women can entirely focus on childbirth and recuperate afterwards because they go through an extreme physical and mental transition in the process. Further, the workforce loses a considerable proportion of precious expertise when the female employees leave permanently to fulfil their responsibilities. Subsequently, many economies have suffered from that drain in the efficient and qualified employees. So, maternity leave seems the best possible solution to encourage more females to live their own lives and pursue their careers advancing as well. Thus, it is clear that maternity leave is beneficial for both organizations and women.

On the contrary, small companies cannot afford maternity leave for an extended period to the businesswomen since it will affect their benefits directly. As they have limited funds to run their business, they have to invest the money carefully to get direct benefits instantly. Paid leave is a considerable amount of money by which they are not getting any outcome immediately. Hence, per their business perspective, it is a challenging situation for them to offer extended maternity leave.

To conclude, the mothers had to make immense efforts to raise their children. So, the government and the private sector have to protect and aid them by implementing this vacation for them during these vulnerable times in their labours and after that.

Vocabulary to Answer “What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maternity Leave”

• Implement 

Definition : put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect
Eg. He made sure his plans were implemented in the drawings.

• Vulnerable 

Definition : exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed
Eg. We were in a vulnerable position at the office today.

• Labour 

Definition : the process of childbirth from the start of uterine contractions to delivery.
Eg . There was a woman in labour who needed help.

• Maternity leave

Definition : the period during pregnancy and shortly after childbirth.
Eg. The government has passed a law which states that maternity leave is mandatory for working women.

• Expertise 

Definition : expert skill or knowledge in a particular field.
Eg. They had technical expertise in nanotechnology.

• Transition 

Definition : the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.
Eg. The students are in transition from one programme to another.

• Unified 

Definition : make or become united, uniform, or whole.
Eg. Opposition groups have unified to compete in the elections.

• Sacrifice 

Definition : give up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations.
Eg. Working hard doesn’t mean sacrificing your social life.

• Welfare 

Definition : statutory procedure or social effort designed to promote the basic physical and material well-being of people in need.
Eg . The government should tend to the welfare of the local community.

• Drain 

Definition : cause (a valuable resource) to be lost or used up.
Eg. He was mentally drained after the workload given today.