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Europe Says Yes to Paid Maternity Leave
The European Parliament has passed a draft law requiring twenty weeks paid maternity leave. Considering the current financial crisis, and that here in the US, the Family Medical Leave Act guarantees just twelve weeks of unpaid leave, it’s amazing that such a law is even on the table. Isn’t it awful that I’m amazed by the idea of legally required paid maternity leave?
Maybe I should be amazed. Work life balance, in the US at least, still feels like an impossible dream, but a lot has to happen before this European law can be enacted. EU governments must approve the law and a lot of negotiations are expected. Proponents argue the law will make it easier for women to have children and keep their jobs at a time when European populations are aging and the countries need both kids and skilled workers. Opponents say businesses can’t afford it and it will lead to gender discrimination in the workplace. The BBC news service reports: “One of the chief opponents of the new proposal, Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis, called it “well-intentioned but completely out-of-step with reality”.”
Why is it that “reality” is always code for “money” and not, you know, “reality”? In reality, government and businesses need people, women and men need time off both when they make very little people and when they bring them into their families from elsewhere. They also need jobs to feed and clothe those wee ones. What with the lifetime of purchases each new birth promises, you’d think businesses would be out there promoting abstinence education. Instead, I can’t help but think the language of the bottom line will water down this draft law before some version of it gets enacted across Europe. But at least in Europe they’re talking about paid maternity and paternity leave. How can we get in on that conversation about maternity leave laws with teeth and money, and paternity leave, too?
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12 Comments
[...] week an article on Babble.com made me wonder why people think the U.S. is so great. Sure, we have Thanksgiving, apple pie, the [...]
New moms in this country get cheated commented on Nov 11 10 at 11:59 amSarah commented on Oct 21 10 at 10:18 amIts such a difference in mindsets. I am amazed by paid maternity leave, but perhaps i shouldn’t be when we are the only westernized country that doesn’t offer it anymore. I just don’t see us ever having it either. Things here are so much more focused on what is best for companies as opposed to what is best for the citizens.
Jeanette commented on Oct 21 10 at 2:26 pmNot all jobs have to offer maternity leave at all. I asked for 6 weeks and in turn, I was FIRED!
alison commented on Oct 21 10 at 2:29 pmI think it’s appalling how little the US thinks about maternity leave. Not to mention the Family leave Act only pertains to employers who have more than 50 employees. Women in Small businesses do not receive any maternity leave and have to use up vacation time to take care of their NEWBORN!!! C’mon people, if we want upstanding, healthy children, it starts at home. But when the parents can’t be home, it gets hard to raise that type of child.
mumus commented on Oct 21 10 at 3:50 pmHere in Italy a long, paid maternity leave is guaranteed. However, protection from job discrimination is not. Women of child-bearing age have an impossible time getting a job.
Emily commented on Oct 21 10 at 4:33 pmIt’s inaccurate to say that the U.S. guarantees maternity leave. To ve eligible, you must have worked for the employer more than 12 months and that the employer have more than 50 employees. Many people are ineligible and have no maternity leave. None.
Melissa commented on Oct 21 10 at 4:47 pmOur first baby is due this December and it kills me to think how awful and archaic and backwards our policies are here. I will get about 6 weeks at full pay, and the other 6 will be unpaid. :( It’s awful. Fortunately, we can afford a few weeks off; not all couples can. It’s a sad, sorry state of affairs here in the U.S.
Melissa commented on Oct 21 10 at 4:47 pmOh and we don’t have maternity leave. I’m using Short-Term Disability.
Robin Aronson commented on Oct 21 10 at 9:30 pmThe restrictions on the Family Medical Leave Act are onerous, and the situation here is deplorable, But,Mumus comment from Italy is sobering. In a country with a very low birthrate it’s nonetheless difficult for a woman of child-bearing age to get a job because of the potential leave. Ridiculous. I can’t believe there’s not a way to solve this problem. I know a woman who worked for a prominent non-profit through both of her pregnancies. She got four months paid maternity leave for both and went back full time and it all worked out for her. Four months seems like a short but reasonable amount of time from both the employer and employee perspective. How do we move this ball?
mumus commented on Oct 22 10 at 2:50 amWell said, Robin. There has to be a solution that takes into account the needs of everyone – new parents and mothers in particular, new babies and, yes, also employers.
Gretchen Powers commented on Oct 22 10 at 7:20 amWell, what we did, actually, was save up for a baby to allow me to stay home and not earn a salary for a period of 3 years. That’s an idea. Plan and save. I was fortunate to be able to consult while on my leave to bolster our finances, but had I not, we would have been fine. You can’t just expect to do whatever, whenever, and have someone else (the government, your employer) make it work for you without something else “giving” (the Italy situation). Moreover, there is no child shortage in America, that’s for sure, so nobody is going to be breaking down the door to essentially pay people to have more kids. You have to ask yourself, from a business/financial perspective…why? It may not be “nice” but, that’s how the world runs, and personally, I don’t want to be beholden to someone paying my bills for me. You say “In a country with a very low birthrate it’s nonetheless difficult for a woman of child-bearing age to get a job because of the potential leave. Ridiculous.” But, are you aware of the unemployment there? Are you aware that people living with their parents as adults is common there? Something doesn’t come from nothing. You say “ridiculous” but why is it ridiculous. It’s just reality.
Gretchen Powers commented on Oct 22 10 at 7:39 amI do understand “not everyone can do this” but I think many people actually can, if they plan and take life conservatively. It just always seems so blind when people jump on the “we oughtta” bandwagon on threads like this without any discussion of “why” from a standpoint other than that individuals would like an easier time managing their own lives. I’m sorry, but that’s not a standpoint that’s going to translate into something that the whole country can get on board with. Our parents and grandparents generations managed to raise us without any government help…and they made sacrifices. My grandparents both worked, grandad at day, grama at night, and this sort of thing was normal for working class people without college educations, whereas nowadays we’d get newspaper articles talking about how folks have come upon hard times and have to work so much to make ends meet. Well, that is to be expected when you’re just starting out. People nowadays expect to have everything right now with no discomfort along the way……
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