Paid Parental Leave

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The birth or adoption of a child is one of the most memorable and important times in many people’s lives. Along with the excitement come many new stresses, one of the main stresses pertain to parental leave. The thought of leaving a new child can be heart breaking especially when having to return back to work sooner rather than later. The United States is one of the last developed countries to not require paid parental leave to parents. Some argue that this should be the sole responsibility of the parents. While parents do take much of the responsibility in this issue, the laws and regulations should be improved to cover paid parental leave for the mental and physical health of mother and child, the improvement of the country for its citizens …show more content…
Currently in the United States the only policy in place by the government is The Family and Medical Leave Act which gives a person the right to take twelve unpaid weeks of “job-protected leave per year for giving birth; taking care of a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a foster child; or attending to an immediate family member with a serious health condition or the employee’s own serious health condition” (Rada, McGovern, Dowd p 370). A study done by the Maternal Postpartum Health Study and explained in the article “Maternity Leave Duration and Postpartum Mental and Physical Health: Implications for Leave Policies.” By Dagher, K Rada, McGovern, M Patricia, and Dowd, E Bryan they compared the duration of leave with variable factors against the mental and physical health of mothers who had recently given birth. In their findings they were able to conclude “on average, in the first postpartum year every additional day of leave results in a decrease in postpartum depressive symptoms until six months postpartum.” (394). The longer a mother can spend healing and bonding with her new baby helps improve the mothers overall well being. This could also help serve as a guide to how much time mothers should be allowed to be on paid leave. The health and well being of a new mother and child should be of great concern to society, our future …show more content…
“Most countries that guarantee paid maternity leave for women provide nearly 100 percent wage replacement for at least some portion of this leave” (Vahratian, Johnson p177). Germany and Spain for example provide at least fourteen weeks of paid leave at eighty percent or more of their earnings for new parents. In America six states have attempted to access better benefits for its citizens through disability programs, California is one of those states providing partial replacement of wages (178). A stigma with parental leave in the U.S. seems to occur when one takes leave. Unlike other countries it is society as a whole that has a thought process that parental leave is not acceptable in a career orientated world. Though the leave has been slightly improved in California a study by Guendelman et al revealed that “American women are more apprehensive about taking advantage of maternity leave benefits for three key reasons (4): first, it may impede their ability to advance in their career and maintain their status with their employer; second, there may be negative effects on their wages over the long term if viewed as a ‘temporary employee’; and third, offering women a longer maternity leave may indirectly impede progress toward gender equity in the labor market. “ (178). As a whole not only do the policies need to improve, the overall attitude in America towards
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