Under the Family Medical Leave Act, most American women can expect to get six weeks off from work after the birth of a new bundle of joy. Paid leave is not mandatory and there are some exceptions. What kind of leave are moms in other countries getting?
While reading Ann Crittenden’s book The Price of MotherhoodI realized the the US is very much behind the times. First of all, only six of the economically developed countries do not offer paid leave. Besides the United States, the other five are Australia, New Zealand, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea.
France and the Netherlands offers sixteen weeks of paid leave. It starts six weeks before the child is born and ends ten weeks after the child’s birth with the promise that the woman can go back to working the same job she was prior to her leave. Many other countries in Europe offer some form of this sixteen weeks of paid leave.
Sweden seems to be the most generous. The country offers a year of paid maternity leave, and then the opportunity to work a six hour work day with benefits until the child is in school and the government offers financial help to pay for child care (Crittenden 108).
So, why is America so stingy with its maternity leave? The obvious conclusion would be that we in America do not value motherhood as much as other countries do. In corporate America, it all comes down to companies trying to make money. Paid leave would cut into that and women who choose to have children are an inconvenience for their employers. Instead of looking at motherhood as an important job that deserves special rights, we look at it as burden that corporate America is forced to bear. This isn’t how it should be.
-kaylee
