You have to feel a spark of sympathy for British first lady Cherie Blair. Never having sought the spotlight herself, she was in it anyway, as the wife of the prime minister -- although she managed to avoid the worst of the glare by focusing on her legal career and her three children. But the wattage was turned up with last fall's announcement of her surprise fourth pregnancy at the age of 45. (The Blairs' youngest child is 12; to her and her teenage brothers, their parents doubtless seem far too old for such goings-on. Prime Minister Tony Blair himself admitted being "shell-shocked" at the news of the pregnancy.) When the child is born in May, if all goes well, the spotlight will be blinding. It is hard to imagine anyone -- especially such a doggedly private and sensible person as Mrs. Blair seems to be -- enjoying such publicity at such a personal time.
You have to hand it to her, though. Not only has she borne the attention -- both the gush and the cynicism -- with aplomb, she is now using it to advance one of her favorite social causes: parental childbirth leave. Specifically, she is reported to have urged Mr. Blair to set an example for British fathers and take at least some of the paternity leave to which, as of three months ago, Britons are legally entitled. (The letter of the new law does not extend to elected officials, but its spirit surely does.) As a lawyer, Mrs. Blair was at the forefront of the push to expand leave rights for both parents; as a mother-to-be, she clearly sees that she and her husband are in an unrivaled position to show people the need to take advantage of them.
Especially men. It is one thing to have a legal right, but it is quite another thing to act on it. In Britain, new fathers can now take up to 13 weeks unpaid leave any time until the child turns 5, and keep their jobs or the equivalent. Here in Japan, both men and women are entitled to up to a year's unpaid parental leave under a law enacted in 1991. Yet in both countries, as elsewhere, paternity leave is very far from being a social norm. The Finnish prime minister took a week off after his wife gave birth earlier this month, as Mrs. Blair has been quick to point out. But that's Scandinavia, always going out on a societal limb. Even the famously enlightened Mr. Blair appeared disconcerted by his wife's public plea last week to take some time off in May. "I honestly don't know what to do," he told the BBC.