Essay about Paid Parental Leave

Becoming a parent is beautiful yet stressful time in many people's lives. Emotions of joy and worry fill the mind of expecting parents as they work to provide a loving and financially stable home for their family. Both parents wish to actively support their child and their spouse during this time of transition, however, corporations are making this task difficult. Maternity leave is a benefit that most companies provide, but only for their female employees. Male employees are not given the same opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with their wife or to develop a bond early on with their child. Providing fathers maternity leave would give them time to dedicate themselves to the growth of their child, allow the mother to heal from giving birth, and promote equality within the family unit and in the workplace.

When experiencing the miracle of childbirth the last thing one would want to do is go back to work the next day. For mothers all over the world, maternity leave is found normal and almost necessary. However, fathers are not given the same treatment and are forced to go straight to work the following day. This double standard has been solved in many countries, however, the U.S. is slow to conform to this modern idea. Gender roles no longer exclude men from taking on more household responsibilities while women work. The modern age has adapted to a more hands on father figure which leaves men desiring the same benefits of paid paternity leave. Allowing men to take paid time off for the first few weeks of their newborn's life

Although current federal and state level legislation guarantee some protections, these policies do not cover all new parents. Parents must have worked a minimum of 5 months while contributing to State Disability Insurance to receive 55% of their salary during 6 weeks of their parental leave, and must have worked with an employer for 1 year to quality for 12 weeks of unpaid leave (“About Paid Family Leave (PFL),” n.d.). Parental leave is not accessible to all adults in the United States because of these requirements, and therefore makes early parenting even more challenging for working adults. Nationally, the trend for mothers on maternal leave has stagnated, although the US economy has expanded (Zagorsky, 2017).

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

The first reason the U.S. should mandate paid parental leave is women are less likely to leave their job. In many of these other countries the paid leave offered is typically longer than the twelve weeks offered in the United States. Women are leaving jobs because they are not being given enough time to bond with their child, and recuperate after their pregnancies. Google is one of the businesses in the U.S. to offer paid leave. Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of Youtube, was the first employee to receive paid maternity leave at Google. She reports this to the Wall Street Journal, “When we increased paid maternity leave to 18 from 12 weeks in 2007, the rate at which new moms left Google fell by 50%. (We also increased paternity leave to 12 weeks from seven, as we know that also has a positive effect on families and our business.) Mothers were able to take the time they needed to bond with their babies and return to their jobs feeling confident and ready. And it’s much better for Google’s bottom line—to avoid costly turnover, and to retain the valued expertise, skills and perspective of our employees who are mothers.” The time and money spent finding new employees is no longer wasted when paid leave is presented to women. The time spent can, at times, be hard to calculate depending on if the person leaving has trained and gained a lot of

There are also those who point to paid maternity leave as a way of dealing with concerns about the ageing of the Australian population and declining birth rate. Demographer Professor Peter McDonald claims that Australia cannot afford to continue with its system of unpaid leave if it wants to encourage the birth rate, which is presently below replacement levels. Striking a balance between affordable policies and meeting the needs of families is challenging. Many agree that it is unfair for business alone to be expected to shoulder the burden of paid leave.

Paid parental leave has been an issue of public and political debate since the early 1970s (Brennan, 2009), stemming from lobbying of the women’s movement and women’s liberation groups (Kramarae & Spender, 2000). The first development towards paid parental leave was made in the late 1970s. At this time the union movement, in particular, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, successfully pushed for a woman’s rights to access maternity leave by applying political pressure on the government of the day (Baird & Murray, 2014). As a result women were able to access 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave with jobs protected, access to this leave was granted to adoptive parents and fathers from the mid 1980’s (McCarthy, Jenkin & Stewart, 2011). Throughout

A new born baby should always be welcomed with open arms excitement, not with fear. On this paper, I want to talk why having a paid parental leave in the united states is something that we need. This topic is of high interest to me because they are only a few countries around the world who don’t offer paid parental leave and the united states is one of them. As a person who wants to start a family in a future, not having paid parental leave can affect me in many ways. For instance, without paid parental leave and with the current parental leave policy, were parents only get 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave; will have to go back to work to make sure that we are not be set back financially. Leaving my 12-week infant at a day care, without a

A vast majority of individuals believe that maternity leave only affects women; however, that is not the case. Not only does maternity leave affect women, but it affects: children of the soon-to-be-mothers, husbands, boyfriends, significant others, but also the workplace of those mentioned. The workplace struggles because managers are forced to temporarily replace the mother expecting, which may result in a delay in performance management for the sake of the company (Li, 2015). Women of all ages are affected by maternity leave, as long as they are able to bear children and if they decide to do so in the future. In addition, mothers who choose the additional responsibility of adoption should be included in this bracket. Hegemony plays a large

In the first weeks of life, a baby needs constant human contact. Not just any human contact will do, either. A baby needs contact with his or her mother. Mom-contact is essential for the baby’s development and health. Newborn babies cannot do anything for themselves, and who better to do it than their own moms! The mother and father of the baby are going to take the best care of him or her. Offering paid maternity leave this allows the mom to establish that bond with their child, and ensures the child is being properly cared for. If paid maternity leave was not available, the baby would miss out on key interactions. Being deprived of these crucial encounters with his or her mother can put the baby through great distress, which can have lasting effects on a person throughout his or her

Have you ever considered how unfair it is that women have to carry around a growing baby for 9 tiring months, and when they get a rest from carrying around the child they don’t really get a rest? After the baby is born, all the mothers get are simply tiring days and sleepless nights. Imagine how much easier a mother’s first while with the baby would be, if she had the father around to help out. Biller says that “quality time with your infant each day and share the responsibilities of basic infant care with Mom. It's a great way to get to know and connect with your baby.” Most companies do not offer paid paternity leave. In my opinion, they should, and here are a few reasons why.

Paternity leave is the time a father takes off work at the birth or adoption his child. Paternity leave is should not just be for mothers, fathers, too, should be able to take days or weeks off after having a new baby. One of the greatest challenges facing American workers is balancing work and family. In recent years, fathers have taken on increased roles in child rearing. It is now a common place for a father to be a full-time, stay-at-home parent, or for a father to share equally in the household and child rearing tasks. There are several general legal requirements for employers offering parental leave to both male and female employees. There are rules and laws made for women to have paid time off when they give birth and is

Should men get maternity leave from work? “The United States is one of only four countries globally, and the only high-income country, without a statutory right to paid maternity leave for employees. In all but a few states, it is up to the employer to decide whether to provide paid leave. 81 percent of women and 71 percent of men get the benefit of paid maternity leave.” ( Women's Policy Research) Maternity leave is defined by the American Pregnancy organization as “the period of time that a new mother takes off from work following the birth of her baby” which usually includes getting paid in their time off work , while paternity is define by the American Pregnancy organization as “the period of time that a father takes off from work following

If in our nation there is not mandate paid for maternity leave, think about taking paternal leave? In Canada paternal leave is governed under the same legislation as a mother taking parental leave. New parents in the U.S. are guaranteed their jobs for 12 weeks after the arrival of a new baby, thanks to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, but they do not have to be paid during that time.

First, it is important to emphasize why parental leave needs not only be available but why it also needs to be paid. An unpaid leave can be very expensive for most people. Providing only unpaid leave would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place because most would not even use it. In a survey by the Boston College Centre for Work and Family, they found that 86% of men would take paternity leave if it paid at least 70% of their wages. (Citation, n. pag.) On the other hand, women without access to paid maternity leave are forced to into a loss of income or loss of job altogether. This comes at a time when more expenses are sure to arise and more income is sure to be needed.