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Many years ago, when I was a university teaching assistant, I had to teach the first weekly class of a new semester. The professor assigned to the course had recently given birth, and missed the first meeting. The following week, the professor returned to work and taught her class. This was back when the United States didn’t offer unpaid leave, let along paid parental leave.
A change occurred in 1993 with the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). With this legislation, workers in the U.S. may receive up to three months of unpaid leave to care for a new-born infant. It was a step in the right direction, but hardly adequate to meet the needs of working parents, and especially working mothers.
Today, the United States is one of the very few countries in the world (the others include Swaziland, Lesotho, and Papua New Guinea) not to offer any paid parental leave. This failure in policy has direct, challenging consequences for many working women in general, and new mothers in particular, including:
1. The decision not to have children, or delay having children, in order to maintain income.
2. Being forced to choose between caring for a newborn and returning to work.
3. Being forced to choose to return to work before the mother is physically and emotionally ready.
4. Being forced to choose to return to work even if the infant has special needs.
5. Opting to stay home longer for childcare but sacrificing income for the family.
6. Opting to stay home longer for childcare but potentially jeopardizing career.
Here is a sampling of paid maternal leave policies of 14 countries in the world:[1]
Australia ― 14 to 25 weeks.
Brazil ― 14 to 25 weeks.
Canada ― 26 to 51 weeks.
China ― 14 to 25 weeks.
Congo ― 14 to 25 weeks.
France ― 26 to 51 weeks.
Germany ― 52 weeks or more.
Italy ― 26 to 51 weeks.
Japan ― 52 weeks or more.
New Zealand ― 14 to 25 weeks.
South Korea ― 52 weeks or more.
United Kingdom ― 26 to 51 weeks.
United States ― no paid leave.
Zimbabwe ― 14 to 25 weeks.
In this U.S. presidential election year, paid parental leave has become one of the issues to come to the forefront.[2] According to a Pew survey conducted in 2017, the great majority of Americans (82%) are in favor of paid maternity leave, and a majority of Americans (67%) are in favor of paid paternity leave.[3]
Dear readers, regardless of your nationality or place of residence, what are your views regarding paid parental leave? What has been your experience with either unpaid or paid family leave? Please share in the reader forum below, and help spread the word about this important topic.
© 2020 by Preston C. Ni. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright violation may subject the violator to legal prosecution.
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