Six weeks after giving birth to Sylvie, her first child with Dylan Sprouse, Barbara Palvin was back in the spotlight. The 33-year-old Hungarian model walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on October 18 in Los Angeles, wearing two looks: a sheer pink dress and a white sequined corset with giant angel wings.
According to Yahoo Creators, Palvin told PEOPLE that the experience was empowering, noting that many American women return to work around six weeks postpartum. And that’s when the debate began.
For some, it’s proof that every woman gets to decide how and when to resume her life, and that feeling good about that choice is also a right. For others, that normality conceals a deeper problem. The United States has no national paid maternity leave, and many mothers return to work so soon not because they want to, but because they can’t afford not to.
Is it empowerment, or is it the consequence of a system that leaves no alternative?
