Women in the US get almost no paid leave when they take time off their job to have a baby. In most other countries around the world, national law mandates paid maternity leave. Not only does this include the women who take time off to have a baby, but their partner as well get paid parental leave.
An article by Nadia Jones, sparked lots of conversation about this topic. She is calling for the United States to require employers, no matter their size, to offer paid maternity leave for mothers. Jones believes that the US is failing women by not requiring this of employers.
How is it possible that the leader of the free world, fails when it comes to protecting new moms? There is no reason why the United States is one of only three nations in the world that does not require employers to offer paid leave to new moms.
At the federal level, there is some limited protection for pregnant women through the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, The Family and Medical Leave Act, or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. But not all women are covered under those laws. Those laws apply only if you work for what is called a “covered employer,” or an employer that has either 20, 50, or 15 employees, respectively. Women are left to try and find protection through any available state statutes that may or may not offer protection to more women.
Some may argue that the U.S. doesn’t value family, motherhood, or breastfeeding as do other countries. Who knows. But it’s time for us to get it together. If 178 other nations can figure it out, so can we. Let’s stand up for new moms in this country and require that employers offer paid time off to all new moms.
What Jones fails to mention is that women in these other countries generally, pay part of their salary into a fund reserved for maternity leave or it is included in their taxes. The taxes in countries like Canada and France are quite high and would have most Americans complaining twice as much as they already do about high taxes. Women in these other countries have to have been at their current job for a certain period of time.
Most of us agree that women in the US need more time off work than the usual 4 to 6 weeks after having a baby. We’d also like to have a guarantee that our job will be there when we get back. What we cannot all agree on is where the money to pay for extra time or maternity leave will come from. Should we pay into a fund, similar to social security, that allows for longer leave or paid maternity/parental leave? Would we be willing to pay more taxes to have paid parental leave? Should everyone, even those who will never be parents, pay into this fund in the form of a tax?
What do you think about the United States lack of requirements for paid parental or maternity leave? Is it a fail for women in the US?
