I don’t even remember how we got on the subject of it this morning during the show but it’s driving me nuts…how unbelievably sad our country is when it comes to maternity leave.

The United States is one of only 5 countries that does not provide or require employers to provide some form of paid maternity leave.  The Family and Medical Leave Act  set in place in 1993 allows new moms to take up to 12 weeks leave but it is unpaid leave.  How is that going to help? When you are growing your family that is the when you need money the most.  So you are forced to choose: bonding with your newborn or go to work to make money to put food on the table.  How sad.

I’ve heard in Vancouver, Canada mothers go back after 14 months of paid maternity leave, same for some European countries.

When I was pregnant with Leah I worked for a company that had great benefits, I guess I just took it for granted and didn’t even realize how good I had it. (I’m not sure what the current policy is)  I assumed the majority of the larger companies in Rochester provided full pay for 6wks (8 for C-section).  Wow was I wrong,  I’m discovering it is just the opposite.  The majority of companies if anything offer a % of pay?

Crazy, just crazy!

Somewhere I read that back in the day in Europe, feminists emphasized special treatment for mothers, including maternity leave and child care. On the contrary, “The American feminist movement didn’t want to hear anything about mothers, they wanted equal rights for women and didn’t emphasize special treatment.”

What can we do?  Just deal with it?

We’re forced to spend the majority of our life at work in order to survive instead of spending quality time raising our kids. Nannies, daycare providers and teachers are raising our kids.