Posted on 07/31/2005 2:06:08 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005
On paid maternity leave, U.S. on par with Swaziland
FOCUS ON EMPLOYERS HAS BEEN BIG BARRIER
By Peter Svensson
Associated Press
In Santa Fe, N.M., Linda Strauss McIlroy, a first-time mother, is trying to get used to the thought of soon putting her 2-month-old boy in day care so she can get back to work.
``It's hard for me to imagine leaving him,'' she says. ``Just not being with him all day, leaving him with a virtual stranger. And then that's it till, you know, I retire. It's kind of crazy to think about it.''
Across the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, Suzanne Dobson is back at work after 14 months of paid maternity leave.
``It was great,'' she says. ``I was still making pretty good money for being at home.''
Across the ocean, in Sweden, Magnus Larsson is looking forward to splitting 16 months of parental leave at 80 percent pay with his girlfriend. They are expecting their first baby in a week.
With little public debate, the United States has chosen a radically different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states.
Australian mothers have it better, however, with one year of job-protected leave. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but it only covers those who work for larger companies.
To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
And yet our per capita income is higher than most other countries they mention, and our birth rate is higher. Hmmmm....
Paid maternity leave is ridiculous. I fully believe mothers should be able to hold their job for a given amount of time (say 2-3 years) should they choose to return, but paid absence? That's just subsidized by all the other employees.
The reporter didn't bother to ask the "Dr. Phil" question: "So, France, how's that birthrate thing working out for you?"
Should have said: PREGNANT Illegal Aliens
Unless your finances are abysmal(no car,no cable,no internet,no fancy sneakers,no big TV,no airconditioning, etc.) you have choices.
Have a baby,ladies,and stop working OR keep working and don't have any babies. Seems simple to me.
Yes, in several ways. Some companies end up paying for the same job twice: they hire temp replacements for workers on maternity leave, who are collecting at least a % of wages, and no doubt full benefits. No raises for the other workers!
Other companies do not hire temp replacements, expecting other workers to pick up the slack for weeks/months. Not good if you work in a department with several maternity leaves happening at the same time or close together.
Ok. Only if the kid actually survives the trip into life, without getting it's skull crushed and shop-vac(ed), we now must provide Mumsy and Dadsy 80% of their pay, to .......babysit.
Just like the military, the Left only cares about you if you happen to survive, despite their constant attacks on your very existence.
So, I must have missed the part that said "Do not have children until you and your husband can afford for you to take time off." Putting a 2-month old in day care seems like abuse - if you don't want to take care of the child, why have it?
Exactly! Now that would have made a good article: how is it that the US lags greatly in paid family leave, and yet has bigger, richer families?
There is more to quality of life than maternity leave.
Hmmm. So abortion's okay if you and your husband can't afford to take time off and the birth control didn't work?????
One of the (many) problems with Canadian maternity leave is that it doesn't pay at 100%. It's all nice and good that they get it, but it pays tops 80% and goes down from there. Now, if I could really afford a 20% paycut, would I need to work in the first place?? (BTW, I am not endorsing the paid leave even if it was 100%, just pointing out a flaw in their "perfect" system.) I'd rather use my 100% paid disability, supplement it with some vacation time and then go back to work after a couple of months. I don't ever want to leave my kids, but it's a reality. (My husband is at home during the day, so they are not getting shipped to daycare.)
What's wrong with her?
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