Many women have said that having a baby is one of the best things in the entire world. A child brings joy, happiness, and a new appreciation for life. The downside of having a baby is having to take that time off of work to care for the child since you know, the child can do literally nothing to take care of itself. You would think that taking off of work would be great and relaxing. However, women are not given paid maternity leave. This is a huge problem in the United States as well as a hot topic in political debates. Why is one of the most powerful countries in the world, built on democracy, the only country who does not give mothers paid maternity leave.
Yes under the Family Medical Leave Act, families get twelve weeks of leave to care for their children but it is unpaid. The United States comes in dead last compared to other countries for paid maternity leave. Ireland, Italy, Poland, Japan, Chile; all have paid maternity leave. Different levels yes but still more than zero. Also the U.S. is one of about nine countries that does not have any sort of leave policies for fathers. Parents need the opportunity to take care of their children after they are born.
While states have took the federal regulations and added to provide more maternity leave and better benefits, there is still none that give paid maternity leave. Women are already making less then men and when they have to take off work and take care of their child, even more of their income is gone. Single mothers, mothers who are the primary breadwinner, and mothers who's partners are out of work especially need to have a paid leave. Why should they be punished when the mother decided to have a child? And sometimes they did not make the decision, it could have been a surprise, and the parents would need all the support they can get.
The government needs to look more closely at the policies in place and look at how to change them for the benefit of new mothers. Also companies need to be more active in voicing the concerns of their employees. There needs to be change made for new mothers as well as fathers for an equal share of child rearing.
This reminds me of my HDFS 129 class. In the beginning we talked about how America really doesn't care for parents, and since some parents can't afford to go on unpaid leave for a full 12 weeks, they risk creating a strong attachment with their child.
ReplyDeleteThere definitly needs to be something done about it. It doesnt even seem morally right to not pay women during their maternity leave seeing as they gained another mouth to feed and clothe added to their family.This seems extremly unfair and infuriating. If other countries can afford to give mothers atleast some sort of compunsation so can America!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that women who have given birth need time to recover from the act itself. it's well known that labor is an incredibly stressful and painful thing, and people who have gone through it should have time to recover just as they would from any other medical proceedure.
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