The US' Approach to Maternity Leave

The United States stands apart from other nations when it comes to Maternity leave and this is NOT a good thing. With little public debate, the United States has chosen a radically different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states.
Australian mothers have it better, however, with one year of job-protected leave. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but it only covers those who work for larger companies.
To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.

How did it end up this way?

According to Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, a professor of child development and education at Columbia University, some countries, like France, expanded maternity leave after World War II to fight falling fertility and encourage childbearing. That argument has been missing in the United States, where immigration has ensured population growth.

Jane Waldfogel, also a professor at Columbia, says another part of the puzzle is that the European and American feminist movements had differing goals.
In Europe, feminists emphasized special treatment for mothers, including maternity leave and child care.
"The American feminist movement didn't want to hear anything about mothers," Waldfogel says. "They wanted equal rights for women and didn't emphasize special treatment."
The U.S. feminist movement has moved away from this viewpoint, but that hasn't led to a change in maternity rules. One reason is that U.S. women are used to having about three months off and consider it the norm, Waldfogel says.

There have been several attempts at introducing paid maternity leave in the United States. The Clinton administration wanted to allow states to use unemployment funds for maternity leaves, but that was shot down by the Bush administration after opposition from business groups concerned with increased contribution to state unemployment funds.
A bill introduced in the House by Reps. Pete Stark and George Miller, both D-Calif., would establish a fund that would replace 55% of pay for workers on FMLA leave. Contributions to the fund would come from employers.
U.S. employers already pay $21 billion a year in direct costs related to the FMLA, Eastman says, in addition to indirect costs like additional overtime for those who fill in for workers on leave.

Not only is the US short on Maternity leave but also benefits for mothers- such as in the UK there exists a tax-free benefit to help parents with the cost of caring for their children. It is payable for each child from birth until at least age 16. They are given approx. $30 a week for each child.

Maternity leave at a glance:

Americans - 6-8 weeks paid leave
Canada- 54 weeks paid leave
In Sweden- 96 weeks
Norway- 52 weeks
Denmark- 50 weeks paid leave
France (for first and second child), the Netherlands and Spain are entitled to 16 weeks leave.
Germany- 14 weeks paid leave.

In Eastern Europe, women in the Czech Republic get 28 weeks’ leave, while those in Hungary are entitled to 24 weeks. In Poland, women are allowed 16 weeks’ leave (for first child).

This doesn’t even included facts about PATERNITY leave…For example in Sweden-, Daddy gets 16 months at 80% pay.

Food for thought?

-SBH