Friday 8th October 2010
by Francesca Donner
It’s a fact: U.S. maternity leave benefits are some of the worst in the world.
I wrote about this last summer on my blog at Forbes in anticipation of my maternity leave.
In this country, mothers receive 12 weeks’ unpaid time off to care for a newborn or adopted child, with the guarantee of the same job when they return. That’s assuming they work for a company with more than 50 employees.
In fact, when you compare maternity leave benefits across 180 countries, the U.S. sits dumpily at the tail end of the list. It’s pretty pathetic.
Perhaps you already knew that Sweden is parent-friendly (it clocks in at 68 weeks of maternity leave plus paternity leave for new dads) but did you know that the U.K. gives mums 52 weeks? So do Albania and Australia. Mums in the Czech Republic can look forward to 28 weeks of leave while those on the Isle of Man enjoy 26 weeks.
In fact all of these countries (to grab a random sample) give mothers more maternity leave than the U.S. — Hungary (24 weeks), Russia (20 weeks), Cuba (18 weeks), Turkmenistan (16 weeks), Singapore (16 weeks), Cote d’Ivoire (14 weeks), Senegal (14 weeks), Togo (14 weeks), Zimbabwe (13 weeks). I could go on, but it’s just too depressing. (See the full list here, including the countries that rank lower than the U.S.)
Well, August is six weeks now (that’s the halfway point of my maternity leave) and there’s a lot I know now which I didn’t know before. For example, the idea of leaving one’s child with a caretaker at three months is enough to make even the steeliest momma weep. It’s an awful thought.
It’s no wonder so many mothers drop out of the workforce, rather than deal with the the separation and the complication and the frustration not to mention (ironically) the expense of going back to work.
It just goes to show the lower than low value this country places on motherhood and parenthood. And call me crazy, but I think it says something on the value this country places on keeping women in the workforce.
Sigh.
I’m calling for better benefits for new mothers and fathers. Who’s with me?
Tags: Maternity Leave
You hit it right on! I am an educator who had to trade in every sick and personal day I had to cover my maternity leave plus take 13 unpaid days. That left me with garnished paychecks for a year and not a single hour of leave this year. It is sad and stressful especially with a new baby.
I actually shared with my husband that I did not want to try again until I have my business up and running because of the stress I was under being employed by someone else.
Maternity leave should be a joyous time, but in the USA, it is a nightmare for most mentally and financially.
Laws have to be changed to ensure that we are not lagging behind for the safety and well being of our families, the core of this country!
I’m with you!!! I am originally from Canada, lived in the US for about ten years, and now I’m living in Brazil.
Canada’s maternity leave is one year with 75% of one’s salary paid. You can even get a second year with no pay. They also have a paternity leave as well. In Brazil, it’s six months with full pay and Brazil is supposed to be a third world country, yeah right!
I think the US is a great country to live, but only if you have the means. Living there for ten years was so incredibly stressful. The best thing that came out of those ten years was meeting my husband and some wonderful friends. Not to mention the opportunity to blog for the Huffington Post. However, not sure if I would ever live there again (maybe in New York), but they have a long way to go with maternity leave and just general benefits for women and mothers.