The gender gap in the workforce is a huge problem, but we all know that. Specifically, women after they get pregnant and have a child have a hard time returning back to work at the same place or stature they left. Only 5 states have passed paid leave legislation whereas Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland and more give women anywhere from 60%-full pay for anywhere up to a year. I'm not saying we need to go from 0-60 and suddenly make all states ensure women (and even the spouse) receive full pay for months and months, but at least pay 80% of their salary for up to 3 months. The article states women are having to return back to work 2 weeks after their baby is born. Childbirth is extremely physically demanding, and no women could properly regain their strength within 2 weeks.
What do you think would be the best policy for paid leave after pregnancy for both the mother and spouse? Should this be implemented by state or federal government?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/22/opinion/paid-family-leave.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
7 comments:
I think paid leave should only be for the mom. Since some businesses do not have great benefits, it is sometimes best if the spouse continues working especially if the mom is on maternity leave and her job doesn't pay for her leave. Additionally, I think that at least three to four months of full paid leave is enough because (this is my family's experience) some mom's prefer to work and be active after tree/four months. I do think that if a mom's family situation isn't the greatest, that businesses should provide child care services or pay a small portion for a sitter if the mom has to come back at after a certain amount of time.
I also believe that mothers should have paid leave, maybe around 2 months. It's not fair to expect them to come back a short two weeks after giving birth. Not every woman has or can afford a babysitter and they should be given a longer time to readjust to their life as a mother. While it would be ideal for the federal government to implement paid family leave, not all states would approve. There could also be discrepancies on how much/how long to pay, so I think that it would be easier for individual states to make those decisions on how and if they'll implement paid family leave.
I would agree with you that we should make sure women get paid leave for a good chunk of time. I don't know much about how long it takes to recover from pregnancy, but anywhere from 2-3 months sounds absolutely reasonable. 2 weeks is definitely a horrible idea, especially because 1. like you said, childbirth is really demanding, but also 2. the mom (especially if a first time mom) needs to get adjusted to dealing with children, needs to manage other household duties, and also might have to cope with Postpartum depression or other problems she may experience. And as for pay, I think that full pay is great, but I don't believe that it is really feasible, so anything above 60-70% should be feasible and good. But the pay should also consider the family's situation. If the family's only supporter is the mom, or if the dad doesn't make enough, I think, like Gabby said, there should be more services or more pay to compensate. And with the state/federal government issue, I agree with Haley that it should be left to the states' discretion because they definitely have different financial situations that may change how a mother can get paid on leave.
I agree that mothers need to find some way to provide for her family after giving birth and that 2 weeks is not enough but I am not sure who should pay for it, because while 2-3 months of paid leave would be great it is a lot of money. The states should be able to decide how to deal with this problem because there is a lot of disagreement over how women should be treated between states and I don't think the federal government could agree on a single solution.
I also agree mother should have paid leave for longer than two weeks after giving birth. Many mothers can not find babysitters and nanny's who can take on full time jobs for a new born, and not every mother is financially stable enough to have a nanny full time. Its hard to understand why it is only a two week leave, since many new mothers have so much adjusting to do with a new person they are responsible for in their lives.
I'm not sure that companies are going to make this change on a dime either but I think if an initiative is going to occur on the subject of returning to work after childbirth it is going to occur on the employer side. I am aware of a couple of companies around the Bay Area that are extremely friendly to mother's who give birth but to put this on a national scale is a bit tedious as gender roles in families are stagnant in most other parts of the country with mothers often not working a job because they can be supported on their husband's salary. A month sounds like a reasonable time period for recovery after childbirth but I am not a mother so therefore my opinion about it is extremely skewed towards the economic side of the argument.
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