Keira Knightley Slams Britain's 'Archaic' Maternity Leave Laws

Keira Knightley has recently spoken out against unfairly skewed British laws against women in the workforce. 

She spoke to a women's magazine about the fact that only 'rich mothers' can afford to work, because of the child care costs.

"One of the things that is so shocking in this country is that childcare is unbelievably expensive," she said.

"It should be, it's an amazing thing if you're good at it. It's incredibly difficult.

"But there is no option for a woman to go back to work unless she's being paid really, really well.

"I think I've become unbelievably aware of that and how lucky I've been to be able to afford really good childcare, because otherwise it would be at least four years out of my career."

She also pointed out that for women to reach true equality in the home and at work, paternity leave should be equal to maternity leave. Having different levels of it presumes that it's really mostly the woman's job to look after the child.

"When you're thinking about an employer looking at a man and a woman thinking, 'Well, at some point you could take nine months or however long off, and the guy doesn't have to. Don't tell me that that doesn't come into it.

"You need to be a family unit, not just have the guy there for two weeks and then go back to work and the mother is left desperately trying to figure it out."

Hear, hear Keira!

This article originally appeared on Marie Claire.