Did you know?The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a mandate for paid parental leave.
In the U.S., we get approximately 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, with most employers offering no paternity leave. Take at look at this infographic for a comparison of the U.S. to other countries. Many other countries have paid paternity and maternity leave, and most have an even longer than 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
We’re at a disadvantage in the United States because we have put an extreme amount of value in “success”, which puts an inordinate amount of pressure on families who feel like they have to make a choice between having a family or having a career.
Why is this detrimental?
This is a social and economic issue. Socially, we American mothers are desperate to be supported in our decisions because we are forced to make such a critical choice about being home with our young babies or keeping our jobs. The discussions are heated and angry because we are angry. The Human Rights Watch 90-page report on this topic indicated that lack of parental leave has contributed to postpartum and post-adoption depression, as well as other health problems that have resulted from mothers giving up breastfeeding before they had desired to do so. Many of the parents who were followed for the study ended up taking unpaid leave, going into debt, and seeking public assistance. This makes maternity and paternity leave an economic issue.
What can we do?
Call your congressman or start a movement at your workplace. Google saw a 50% decrease in new mom attrition when they implemented a 5-month parental leave policy. Hiring is costly; remind your employer of this, and get your co-workers on board. While a government mandate would bring us up to par with other industrialized nations, we can also demand it at the employer level — let’s make this the norm for employment.
We should hold ourselves to a higher standard and demand government mandated paid maternal and paternal leave for all people who have made the decision to work and expand their family. It is important not only important for the well-being of the individuals, but also the future of our economic well-being in the US.
Kendall Hoover is a web content and non-fiction editor who helps bloggers make money on their blogs, and improve their pagerank. She is also Secretary of Fayye Foundation and is passionate about pre- and postpartum care for mothers. She is a military spouse and mother to one toddler son, so when she’s not reading or writing, she’s the project assistant on elaborate Lego projects.
This is not to mention that not all businesses fall under the FMLA mandate of 50+ employees before they have to abide by the 12 week mandate. I worked in a daycare that employed about 10 people total and my employers told me I could only have a week off after delivering my second child and that I would HAVE to return to work. And since my son would have been far too young to be accepted at any reputable daycare (including my own which was licensed for 1 to 7 year olds) I would have to take him to work with me and leave him in the office 10 hours a day 5 days a week plus mandatory monthly trainings. It forced me into becoming a stay at home mom which turned out to be the best in the end but it is still an incredibly sad state of affairs.
What I think seems to be totally left out of this discussion…And I mean the ongoing discussion I have been part of over the years…Is: How do you pay for it? As some astute people from all over the world commented, there are incredibly high taxes in countries with “the best” paid maternity benefits. Even Canada has very high taxes to “pay” for this. This money doesn’t just appear out of the air to pay someone to “not do their job” while someone else fills in and “does their job”. Making a business responsible for that, by law is a negative to business. If a business chooses to offer maternity leave benefits because they want to attract and retain excellent employees who are also parents, then that is their right to do so. In fact, it would be a good business decision. Imagine the laws backfiring and businesses being hesitant to hire women of childbearing age because they don’t want to have to deal with the ramifications of the law. That could actually hurt women and children.
We, Americans, need to understand what “freedoms” are given up by people and businesses when laws like this are in effect. Essentially, you could look at it as either you pay more via higher taxes and less freedom (businesses having to deal with more and more laws and rules and the costs that cause) or you pay YOURSELF because you don’t pay as much as the parents in the other countries and you save up money or otherwise decide how you want your career and family to be managed. The other thing to be brought up is that many of the “best” maternity leave laws are in countries that have plummeting birth rates…Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway. They literally are on track to disappear as populations. The US does not have a plummeting birthrate.
We are also a country founded on principles and freedom unlike other countries. Our culture is different. All this to say: you simply cannot compare the US to other countries regarding maternity leave laws. There is so much more to it than just “they have it” and “we don’t”.
When talking to employers there is a baby step that is more easily taken than requesting something that increases costs. Employers today can offer an employee paid short term disability option that would provide a big improvement over nothing. Most don’t even do that.
The biggest reason these options aren’t more available is the awareness is way too low. Women aren’t asking often enough for the simple opportunity to buy something for themselves at work that provides maternity income support.
LOVE this!!! Couldn’t agree more!!!!!