It wasn’t a convenient time for parental leave. Pete Buttigieg took it anyway

– Leave it. Parental leave has become, to some degree, a bipartisan issue. But the issue slid back into partisanship last week as Republicans criticized Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for taking time with his new twins during a supply chain crisis and the hashing out of a major infrastructure bill.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show that Buttigieg, who welcomed twins with husband Chasten Buttigieg after a year of the adoption process, was away from his job on “paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed.” (Politico first described the secretary as “MIA.”) Carlson’s comments go beyond the usual rhetoric that discourages fathers from taking parental leave and veer into the homophobic. But Buttigieg, and the White House, have stayed focused on supporting the secretary’s choice and using his new parenthood as an example of why paid parental leave matters.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Buttigieg a “role model” for taking four weeks of leave. And it’s true that his choice is notable: one of the last cabinet secretaries to have a child while in the role, former Obama Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, took just a week off at the time. Buttigieg has now brought attention to the reality that his time out of office isn’t a vacation—and that welcoming a child is, in fact, “work.” “It may be time away from a professional role, but it’s very much time on,” he told the NYT.

As the NYT notes, no parent can know in advance exactly what they may miss at work when a child arrives or a loved one falls ill, requiring caregiving at home. For Buttigieg, his twins’ arrival happened to coincide with a busy time at work.

Taking leave is rarely, if ever, convenient—but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take it. As unpredictable as the workplace can be, it’s easier to forecast the eventual need to cover for employees than it is to predict far in advance when exactly a child will arrive or a parent will become sick.

Buttigieg didn’t let a demanding time at work stop him from the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be with his new babies at home. As the Biden administration attempts to pass 12 weeks of paid parental leave in its major bill, the secretary may have done as much to promote his boss’s agenda as he could have from his full-time cabinet seat.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. 

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- Good in a crisis. Women took on even more "invisible work" during the pandemic. And much of that isn't being recognized. Research shows that women managers who provide emotional support to their employees are often seen as "caretaking" rather than given credit for strong crisis management. Harvard Business Review

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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- TV subplot. How has TV created our current cultural narratives around abortion? Since the 1980s, television shows have portrayed abortion as, often, medically dangerous, a "necessary evil," only sought by people who don't want to be parents at all, and a decision with "high moral conflict." Those storytelling choices have influenced how abortion is seen by many today, this piece argues. Vox

- Wizarding world. For 23 years, New Zealand has paid Ian Brackenbury Channell to serve as the Wizard of New Zealand. The 88-year-old promoted Christchurch through "acts of wizardry and other wizard-like services." But he's made off-color comments about women throughout the years, and the city council has now ended his wizarding contract. Guardian

ON MY RADAR

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Ciara on her investment and co-ownership in rum maker Ten to One Fortune

The cruel paradox of Linda Evangelista's fate New York Times

WNBA union denounces Texas abortion ban in New York Times ad The 19th*

PARTING WORDS

"There are these big decisions on the macro level, affecting the global business. But when you get down to it, it’s just siblings being siblings."

-Actor Sarah Snook on the new season of Succession, which premiered on HBO last night