The US policy on maternity leave falls short when compared to the rest of the world’s industrialized countries. This country is the last industrialized one left to not have mandated paid maternity leave for new mothers. American mothers are plagued with the pressure of having to take care of their newborn(s) and economic situation for at least twelve weeks. They’re at a greater risk of having an unstable income, family life, and health. This is despicable. It is imperative that the United States rectifies this situation and introduces paid maternity leave for the workforce as an emendation in order to provide mothers with a sense of security and wellbeing while taking time off to care for their newborns. It’s time for the US to join the …show more content…
If you look at total paid leave provided, it averages at 53.7 weeks with a 59.2% of wages being paid. All of these numbers are extremely impressive compared to the zero weeks of paid maternity leave that the United States provides. Additionally, paid maternity leave ends up providing a huge benefit to the children of the employee as the report, “The Economics of Paid and Unpaid Leave,” from the Council of Economic Advisors stated in the following:
Other studies have found that maternity leave increases women’s likelihood of successfully nursing their infants. There is also evidence that children have shorter hospital stays when their parents are able to stay home and care for them. The current evidence on children’s outcomes emphasizes the importance of the early childhood and prenatal environment, so there are likely large long-term benefits of polices that improve infant health. One study found higher educational attainment, lower teen pregnancy rates, higher IQ scores, and higher earnings in adulthood for children whose mothers used maternity leave, suggesting paid leave policies can have long-term benefits as well. Children who do not have adequate parental care are more likely to show up sick to school and infect others. Studies also suggest that those with paid sick leave are more likely to utilize preventative health care such as cancer screening.
Therefore, not only does
The website, whitehouse.gov it states that, “Only 39 percent report being able to take some type of paid family leave for the birth of a child.” Not all the workers were offered paid leave or any of the benefits it provides. Workers should be allowed to take time off to care for their child as they require extensive attention and care. The parents should be granted family rights along with individual rights. The website also mentions how not only businesses but families will benefit as their economy overall would benefit since making full use of American talent requires policies that let workers better balance their family lives. Aside from work benefits parents will save money on baby essentials such as clothing, diapers, and formula as the expenses will be covered by their employer. Babies are healthier when their parents can afford them and cover all of their baby’s expenses. Along with raising a healthy child, maternal leave also impacts the mother’s health as they get to bond with their child without worrying about any job-related
America being one the most industrialized nations it is shocking to most to discover that it does not provide a more beneficial maternity leave when compared to its European counterparts. Not only is Europe leading the way for a lengthier leave of absence for new mothers, they also provide financial benefits to those families with newborns, to American society this is not considered a cultural norm, in fact it is even bizarre to some that having a child while in the work force would even be beneficial. Consequently, the difficulty in accessing a reasonable maternity leave in America creates long term effects on a child’s development.
Currently, the United States is the only industrialized country without a statute requiring all employers to provide some kind of paid time off for its employees to care for a newborn or a sick loved one. Data gathered from 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) support this claim. Figure 1 shows the member countries and the length of maternity leave provided to all employees.
As we move into the new millennium more and more employers are allowing, some are even encouraging, their employees to bring their newborn babies to work with them. This is probably one of the greatest changes in child care norms that this country has seen in the past 30 years. Once upon a time, when a woman had a baby she almost always quit her job to raise her child, depending on her husband to support her and her child. Then along came the idea of maternity leave. This is when a woman takes a certain amount of time off to be with newborn. Once this time period was up, the woman still had a job to go back to. This meant that women no longer had to rely on their husbands for support. Unfortunately it also
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.
Although current federal and state level legislation guarantee some protections, these policies do not cover all new parents. Parents must have worked a minimum of 5 months while contributing to State Disability Insurance to receive 55% of their salary during 6 weeks of their parental leave, and must have worked with an employer for 1 year to quality for 12 weeks of unpaid leave (“About Paid Family Leave (PFL),” n.d.). Parental leave is not accessible to all adults in the United States because of these requirements, and therefore makes early parenting even more challenging for working adults. Nationally, the trend for mothers on maternal leave has stagnated, although the US economy has expanded (Zagorsky, 2017).
Pregnancy and early child development is a fundamental aspect of human society, and is pertinent to the development of a successfully functioning community. The developmental and social progress of any civilization relies on children, as they will compose the future working population. Therefore, a mother or father’s involvement in the child’s development is of extreme importance, which is why family leave has been implemented all over the world. Family leave refers to the period of time granted to the employee to care for their newborn child. As communities evolve economically, financial stability is necessary, for what is perceived to be socially successful for a child’s development, which is why paid family leave is popular throughout the world’s nations. However, ABC News reports that “the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave” (Kim, 2015); the same is true for paternity leave. The United States government has an interesting track record dealing with family leave, but in order to analyze what the US government and advocacy groups have done to solve this issue, there first needs to be an understanding on why this issue is so difficult to resolve. The arguments that support and oppose paid family leave in the United States are equally valid, therefore causing a stalemate in the attempted policy making of legislative bodies.
The Urban Institute published a case study that promotes the creation of national paid family leave policy in the United States. In the study, it is shown that this issue has been debated countless times in the past. George H.W. Bush even vetoed an unpaid family leave act during his presidency. This displays the struggles of enacting policy relating to this issue. The lack of a national paid family leave program in the US has left working mothers with three options: “return to work immediately after childbirth, quit employment, or take unpaid leave” (Urban Institute, 2017, p.3). The issue with these options include, loss of pay, unemployment, or the lack of parental presence in a child’s early development. Moreover, although some private companies offer paid leave, less educated and lower income mother have little access to this paid leave, which exacerbates their financial instability, keeping them in a lower societal class. This study found that not only is the current system is inadequate, but it is also inequitable, which causes financial hardships across the nation. According to the study, there has even been a 32% decrease in income after childbirth. Although this is the current situation, some states have enacted a statewide paid family leave program, which displays
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.)
It has been argued that maternity leave is not only harmful to business but also to women themselves, and that it can be a burden on businesses so they may think twice about employing women. (7) Where leave is given, whether paid or unpaid, businesses have to fill the position vacated by the parents and this in itself creates additional work and cost for employers who have to pay for job advertisements, background checks and time for interviews. They are also faced with the cost of training the temporary
According to the American Pregnancy Association, “Maternity leave refers to the period of time that a new mother takes off from work following the birth of her baby. Maternity leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or
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.
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.
Maternity leave has not always been available to new parents in the United States. Only thirteen states provided time off work to care for a new baby while holding secure their job and its benefits up until 1993 (Rossin 2011). Typically, the employer is responsible for implementing a maternity leave policy, other than the government-mandated policy of the Family and Medical Leave Act (Berger, Hill, & Waldfogel, 2005). Certain states have enacted their own laws regarding maternity leave policies. Of these state policies, some are as short as 4 weeks (Berger, et al., 2005).
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