Paid Maternity Leave In The United States

Maternity leave is a retreat that all mothers should have the opportunity to experience after childbirth. The birth of a child can be exciting, exhausting, and challenging for all new mothers experiencing the joys of parenthood. Unfortunately for some working mothers living in the United States, maternity leave is not always guaranteed. The United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave. An idea so common in other countries is considered a luxury benefit for hard-working mothers in the United States.

Paid maternity leave protects families from financial stress and bombardment. Per the Washington Post in the article “Defending Paid Parental leave” on September 2, 2009, “One of the side effects of the bad economy is that good ideas that sound expensive begin getting ignored. Take paid parental leave. Making sure that parents can afford to take time off to have a baby is a good idea on a number of fronts. It protects families from the choice of financial calamity or time with a newborn.”

Today there are two countries in the world that do not currently guarantee paid maternity leave for employed new mothers and/or expecting mothers, those countries are the United States and Papua New Guinea, according to the International Labour Organization, an United Nations agency, which recommends a minimum 18 week maternity leave (Rubin 2016, p.1). In recent years, the controversial issue of guaranteed maternal leave has been a prominent topic of debate amongst political activists and elites, particularly in the United States, where reform is a feasible option but has yet to be achieved. It is this absence of policy that serves to provide guaranteed maternal for all working mothers that has been linked to significant health related issues; these adverse effects not only impacts those mothers, but their children as well. Although paid maternal leave remains a controversial matter, policy reform that implements such leave is not only a feasible option in the United States, both economically and politically, it is an ethical necessity in order to facilitate the well-being of American women. Thus, in order to work toward ethical political/governmental policy that supports the well-being of women in the United States’ workforce, it is crucial that guaranteed paid maternal policy is implemented.

Today there are two countries in the world that do not currently guarantee paid maternity leave for employed new mothers and/or expecting mothers, those countries are the United States and Papua New Guinea, according to the International Labour Organization, an United Nations agency (Rubin 2016). In recent years, the controversial issue of guaranteed maternal leave has been a prominent topic of debate amongst political activists and elites, particularly in the United States, where reform is both an ethical protection for employees and a feasible option for employers, but has yet to be achieved. It is this absence of policy that has been linked to significant health related issues of which does not only effect mothers, but their children as well. In addition to these adverse health impacts, it generates economic hardships to mothers and families. Thus, the consequences to mothers, families, and newborns that the absence of guaranteed paid maternal leave presents and the potential benefits of guaranteed paid leave for these individuals as well as employers, creates a case for policy reform in this particular area that would implement such protection.

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.

The maternity leave laws make it difficult for women to not only have a child but be punished the workplace for having a child by not getting promotions, pay, and proper support. In an article by Abby McCloskey she explain, “The united states is the the only state in the developed world without a national paid-maternity-leave program. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 mandates that employers offer twelve weeks of job-protected leave to workers for family-related issues. But 40 percent of working women are ineligible, owing to the act’s various restrictions. Moreover, because it is unpaid, many mothers cannot afford to take this leave even if they are eligible to do so” (McCloskey 20). These lack of benefits have a direct impact on the financial situation women face around the world. Imagine being a single mother with the expenses of a new born baby with no pay check, benefits, or finical security. Making maternity leave benefits more of a priority in the United States will not only help solve the gender inequality problem but it will help prevent single mother avoid

Throughout time and history women are perceived as a housewife, mothers, and givers; while men are breadwinners, fathers, and receivers. Women have strived to change this stereotype for years, and while sometimes this stereotype disappears for a subtle moment, it always will resurface. Especially, when it comes to maternity leave. Men and women are given an equal amount of time to care for a newborn, but somehow the father returns to work in a matter of days. Why is that, you may ask? It is because America has generalized American into their known stereotype. And because of this, we see men returning to the workforce in a short amount of time. Men, along with women, should have a paid extension from the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for their child, create the bonding link between child and parent, while tearing down the stereotypical assumption wall between man and woman.

In the case study, it demonstrates how the United States is the only industrialized country without a law assuring paid maternity leave to new mothers, in comparison to other countries such as

In the U.S. only about 16 percent of companies offer fully paid maternity leave and many families take on significant debt and resort to take on public assistance during the birth of their child. This is contrasted against Sweden, where parents are given over a year of paid leave days per child, to be shared between them and used any time before the child turns eight.

Subsequently, even though big changes have been made, gender inequality stills exists in the workplace. In the United States, the percent of women engaged in the workforce is falling behind other western countries. The United States ranked 22nd best in terms of gender equality out of 135 countries. Researchers say that that the United States is falling behind due to the lack of business and social support for working women. In addition to this, the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have paid parental leave. Moreover, in an Huffington post article, Katy Hall found that as a result of the Family Medical Leave act of 1993, new parents are guaranteed their jobs twelve weeks after their baby is due. This act does not require the company to give fully paid maternity leave. Unpaid parental leave could make a woman not want to work since if she does it would be harder for her to start a family. Hence, this makes it harder for women to work. If a woman is not having paid maternity leave, then this will cause her to have problems when trying to provide for her child if she does decide to have one. Moreover, a study directed by researchers at San Fernando Valley State College said that “ when an individual with a PhD applies for a position at a university, that individual is significantly more likely to be offered a higher level

There is a direct relationship between the amount of leave one is granted, and breastfeeding rates. In a 2010 study it said the US could prevent 900 deaths of infants and save 13 billion dollars per year if 90% of women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life. As of 2010, only 43% of babies in America are breastfed for six months. Women are not able to breastfeed exclusively due to the high demands of work. Some believe that updating the Family Medical Leave Act will create debt but the findings of this study say it can actually help the economy and save lives.

The article, “Without Taking Away Her Leave”: A Canadian Case Study of Couples Decisions on Father’s Use of Parental Leave” explains, “More than one in four Canadian fathers now takes some paid leave at the birth of a child.” While this certain explanation is shown in a positive perspective, more fathers in the workplace should be taking hefty advantage of paid parental leave particularly to form the bond in the first six weeks. While in countries like Canada in the province of Quebec, paternity leave is more accepted by men than it is in countries like the United States. In the United States it is more likely for a father not to take any time off after his child is born. One might argue that taking too much time off after the birth of a child might take away opportunities in the workplace, but because paternity leave is becoming more accepted, it will be normal for a man to take time off. It is likely that they will have to use vacation time which might leave room for not being able to call off for an emergency. In most cases, taking twelve weeks unpaid could really hurt a family. That is why those first six weeks should be paid for. The idea

Despite the advantages of paid parental leave, the United States trails behind other developed countries in guaranteeing these options. In fact, America is currently “one of the only two nations (the other being Papua New Guinea) that do not guarantee paid maternity leave to new mothers” (Baum II and Ruhm 333). Last year, according to the Pew Research Center, only fourteen percent of workers had access to paid family leave (Desilver). Instead of choosing to extend paid leave for their employees, many American businesses opt to offer unpaid family leave that is available to almost ninety

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