The American way…disappointing
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.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I totally agree Sandy! I was put on bedrest in my last 3 months of pregnancy and got paid disability for it and then got only 6wks after birth off. I went back to work and was so stressed plus I had PPD my doctor wanted me on less hours but according to my company I had no time to use. I could only go unpaid and then told me I couldnt. It was awful! My friends in Canada all said they get a year off I was so jealous, its hard to go back to work and miss out on all the firsts! Something should be done!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
It’s one year paid mat-leave in Ontario. We are very thankful for our health care system here. I’ve heard this debate before, it’s really bad what goes on over there (in the States) I would probably be dead right now if we had to pay for health care.
Ashleigh
July 15th, 2008 at 8:39 am
It is very sad. As a single working mom, I had to choose one day of whether to go to work (because my boss pretty much forced me to) or take my 6 year old to the dr. Well, of course I chose work and let me tell you, I still am mad at my boss for making me choose (mind you, it is a female and she has NO CHILDREN). Well, my friend took him to the dr for me and he ended up having a perforated ear drum. All he did was cry for me all day. I will never again put work before my children.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
There is a county in Africa I think that pays out 2 years maternity leave. If I remember correctly from a gender psyc class I took last year, we have the third worst laws surrounding maternity leave. It’s nuts.