Out of 178 countries worldwide, they are the only nations that do not guarantee paid maternity leave for new mothers. This fact is one that underscores, quite starkly, America's recurring disregard for the rights and needs of women when faced with "competing" economic, social and religious ideals.
Yes, the Family and Medical Leave Act requires that businesses offer women 12 weeks of maternity leave, but that leave is unpaid. Not only that, the act exempts businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and in 2011 only 11 percent of private and 17 percent of public sector workers reported access to maternity leave.
This graphic from Think Progress visually compares the U.S. to several other countries.
Today, nearly 50 percent of families have two working parents, and over a quarter of households have single parents (mostly women) bringing in a sole income. Obviously, a lack of paid maternity leave puts an intense financial strain on a large percentage of families in America who are trying to simultaneously build family units and maintain professional careers and income streams.
Former banker and business consultant Cali Williams Yost makes the case in Forbes that paid maternity should be embraced by "card-carrying capitalists" because it makes sound business and economic sense:
There are workplace and public policies that plan for time off and income replacement in case of illness or injury. There are 401Ks and social security for when you retire and can no longer work. Why isn’t there a coordinated, uniform workplace and public policy that offers time off and at least partial income replacement when people, inevitably, have babies or an aging parent needs care? Why?
[...]
+ Paid family leave acknowledges and addresses a reality that directly impacts
every business and, therefore, should be planned for strategically, uniformly and
deliberately;
+ Paid family leave is NOT a tax, but income replacement insurance program funded
by employees at minimal cost and
+ We are paying for a cost for caregiving already, albeit indirectly and inefficiently.
I recommend reading her explication of the three above points, for she makes strong cases as to why paid leave is in truth an income insurance which needs no further corporate or government infrastructure, and which would in fact save taxpayers and businesses money.
Aside from the economics, though, the ethical repercussions of this issue are (to me, at least) clear. For a country founded upon such principles as equality, equal opportunity and freedom from intrusive religious doctrines, women continue to be ignored or disregarded. And a lack of paid maternity leave is just one more area in which the rights and needs of women are given little consideration.
In fact, one might argue that there are religious underpinnings behind why women aren't granted such leave in this country. In a society still dominated, culturally, by Judeo-Christian notions of family roles – in a society heavily influenced by conservative Christian ideals – it's easy to understand contextually why paid maternity leave is not guaranteed in the U.S.
True, corporate interests are at play. But so too are social ones – even those to which we, as a modern society, claim not be be beholden.
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