Maternity Leave Essay

Only 9% percent of American companies offer paid paternity leave for all their employees (Ramnarace,). Since Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are underpaid, it is very hard for fathers to be able to take a long absence from work and not be paid for the time off. 86 percent of men said they would not take a paid leave unless they made at least 70 percent of their current salary (Ramnarace,). There are 79 countries that have laws that require companies to offer paternity leave for fathers. There are 29 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, 5 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 12 in Lain America, 2 in the Middle East, and 24 in the Developed Economies (Ramnarace,). The United States is still behind by only having 4 states that have adopted the new laws allowing fathers a leave of absence from work with some sort of pay. While the current family leave law allows for 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, I believe the law should be expanded worldwide to allow paid leave for all fathers without using their accumulated paid leave credits (Parental).

Becoming a parent is beautiful yet stressful time in many people's lives. Emotions of joy and worry fill the mind of expecting parents as they work to provide a loving and financially stable home for their family. Both parents wish to actively support their child and their spouse during this time of transition, however, corporations are making this task difficult. Maternity leave is a benefit that most companies provide, but only for their female employees. Male employees are not given the same opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with their wife or to develop a bond early on with their child. Providing fathers maternity leave would give them time to dedicate themselves to the growth of their child, allow the mother to heal from giving birth, and promote equality within the family unit and in the workplace.

Take a moment to think about this: you and your significant other just took the step to become parents. Though you are young, you both believed it was time and went ahead and brought a baby into your lives. Staring at your baby and your spouse with loving eyes, you do not think life can get any better. However blissful life may seem, things soon come crashing down. You and your significant other work average wage jobs and are having a hard-enough time supporting each other, and now the cost of diapers, clothes, furniture, formula and baby food are creeping in on you and sucking the life out of your bank account. You want to spend time with your new bundle of joy, but suddenly, your baby is being ripped out of your hands and being sent to an

The issue I decided to use was my Toulmin essay. I wrote about maternity leave in the United States. My claim for this essay was that maternity leave laws should be reevaluated so that mothers receive paid maternity leave and that the law should be reevaluated. An example of how I proved this claim is with the information I found about the Family and Medical Leave Act. “In 1993 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (Rossin, 221). The FMLA affected women greatly, this federal law approved unpaid maternity leave for all women, regardless of what state they lived in.” Like the reading in the lesson said I would write down a list of arguments based on maternity leave and find any claims or desires

Having an above average sex life may depend on one factor among others: dividing not only bed sheets but also everyday tasks of child care. But since the US is the only developed nation that doesn’t require companies to provide mothers or fathers any paid parental leave http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_242615/lang--en/index.htm, is this report really meaningful?

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.

In class I was shocked to learn that paid maternity leave is not a common practice in the United States. I thought that paid maternity leave was a mandatory practice we already have so many programs but in place so I assumed that it would be common sense to have this in place . The instructor informed

Statistics show that in almost half of the families in the United States, both parents work full time, and the mothers are the primary breadwinner in 40% of these households (Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns 399). This means that most families are frustrated during the maternity leave. The situation is worse when it comes to the homes that depend on the mother as the sole breadwinner. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention women who received three months or more paid maternity leave had a higher probability of breastfeeding their babies for no less than six months than those who did not get any paid leave. Remember that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that mothers should breastfeed their newborn babies for at least six months after birth. This enhances the health of both the mother and her kid. Nevertheless, how will expectant single mothers survive without paid leave? The chances are that those who cannot save enough for delivery and upkeep of a child will avoid pregnancy or delivery, and this can be achieved through the use of contraceptives and abortion. However, these aspects can hamper America’s population. Henceforth, the United States government has to develop and back a maternity leave payment policy. In spite of significant transformations, the U.S. is the only developed nation with no paid maternity leaves, according to data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The minimum amount of paid leave allowable in fellow developed nations is approximately two months. Estonia offers the best maternity leave provision which entails one and half years paid leave to new parents. Thus, how come the U.S. with all its resources is not offering paid maternity leave? Besides, the U.S. financially supports most of the

All of the above are strong arguments for the pressing necessity of a mandated paid maternity leave. Nevertheless, the many opponents of this initiative are arguing otherwise.

Of industrialised nations, it is the Scandinavian countries that set the pace. In Norway, for example, women are entitled to a year's maternity leave on full pay, two years' unpaid leave and the right to part-time employment while their children are young. Supporters of more comprehensive paid maternity leave say motherhood means a substantial loss of earnings, demotion and insecurity in the workplace for many women. Providing financial and job security for women as well as helping businesses retain skilled employees makes good financial sense. They point out that it is only a privileged few who receive paid leave, and these are usually women on higher incomes.

A mere 12 weeks is the amount of unpaid maternity leave promised to working mothers under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in America. Although many mothers-to-be gladly take the dozen weeks off, American families are at a disadvantage compared to other families around the globe. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee or even offer paid maternity leave for working mothers; employers decide whether to provide paid leave for mothers. In the last few decades, more women have traded their aprons for briefcases. However, working women in the United States must choose to raise families while keeping their jobs. Currently, women in the United States must choose between their kids or their career. Mothers who decide to have families must stay at home with a new baby with no guarantee of a paycheck. New mothers should be guaranteed six months of fully paid maternity leave in the United States because they need to restore their health, paid leave helps the economy, and it promotes better health of the baby.

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), if you are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, you are eligible to take a pregnancy disability leave (PDL), which is an unpaid leave. If you are affected by pregnancy or a related medical condition, you are also eligible for reasonable accommodation (such as more frequent breaks) and/or to transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position or to less strenuous or hazardous duties, if medically advisable because of your pregnancy. A pregnant employee has these rights, regardless of length of employment or hours worked (but leave is prorated for a part-time employee based on your status as compared to a full-time employee).

According to the National Partnership, 76% of respondents of a survey favored updating the Family Medical Leave Act. Also, 84% of people under 30 favored updating the act, and 72% of people over 65 favor the updating of the act. Some believe that paid leave will be extremely bad timing, will be difficult to fund, and that the government should focus on the fiscal cliff instead. However, in the long run having paid maternity leave will result in saving money.

Access to paid leave is often identified as an issue that primarily concerns working mothers, yet paid leave is also critically important for working fathers. In a society that continues to evolve, it is even more imperative to address this unequal access with an increasing number of fathers who are serving as stay at home parents (International Labor Organization, 2014). Legislation that supports fathers having the support they need to prioritize family responsibilities can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of their growing families (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Despite these advantages, the growing importance of paternal involvement with their newborns is not always supported in today’s society. The economic and social barriers fathers face may hinder them from taking paternity leave altogether, such as inadequate access to paid leave and outdated cultural norms about male breadwinners. According to survey data, most fathers in the United States only take one day of leave time for every month the typical mother takes (Harrington et al., 2014). This means that even in the twenty-first century, it appears to be more widely accepted for mothers to take off time from work to care for their families than fathers. Fewer than half the countries in the world provide men with access to paid leave to care for a new child, while virtually all provide paid maternity leave (ILO, 2014). Paid paternity leave and laws related to promote