Maternity Leave and My Two Cents

The United States is the only first world nation to not provide any paid maternity leave. This has always been interesting to me that our country prides itself on being a front-runner in human rights issues, but the mothers are left out in the cold. The problem is that America is so individualistic, that it is no one else's problem if families have much needed benefits or not. The attitude of If it doesn't effect me, than I don't care pervades our society. Because of the fact that America's maternity policies are so poor, many women go back to work just weeks (sometimes days) after having a baby, and leave their child in someone else's care. There are so many issues with this, but I do not begrudge any woman that chooses this route out of necessity. Women are exhausted, often unable to nurse, and depressed when they do not get the key bonding time with their child. While some (and this is the minority) companies offer benefits, other companies are woefully behind the times here. 

I was lucky enough that I was able to plan out both pregnancies and leave arrangements with my children. I paid for maternity-disability insurance (Aflac and Allstate have policies) on my own for the required time before both pregnancies, and was then able to get close to $3,000 for my 12 week arranged leave without pay from the office I worked in. Not great, but certainly better than nothing! When Matthew was born premature, I was also lucky that my employer had no problem extending my leave to 16 weeks (unpaid), and was able to negotiate coming back part-time for one year, which involved taking out a home equity line of credit. Not everyone can do these things, has flexible  family-oriented employers, or the ability to obtain money for their time off. 

I understand that this issue has two sides. The countries that provide paid leave have higher taxes.  Not everyone chooses to have children (though more might if it didn't effect their careers and financial stability so much...), and companies already pay through the nose for group insurance policies. My solution? The standard 12 weeks that companies usually have to hold a job for anyhow, should be paid through the use of a company paid disability policy. Mine was as little as $19 each month for an individual plan, and I would guess that in a group policy could be even less. Is it a perfect solution? No. But it certainly beats what we have now. Those that choose not to have the policy? That's easy. Pay them more. I also did this for almost 6 years and negotiated higher pay for not utilizing the company benefits, because my husband (ex) had such good insurance. 

Watch the video...it speaks for itself....United States...No Maternity Leave. The visual mapping is fantastic. Even Pakistan beats us. 

And just in case you were wondering, having children, at least here in the US, negatively impacts a woman's career for many years afterward: 

• Academic Motherhood and the Gap-professors who are moms are treated differently
• The Motherhood Penalty   Great 3 minute video. 

I think it's time for a change.