Nataly Astorga, Estrella Hoskinson, Beatriz Limn, Gabriela Perez

Mr. Parker

English 11 Honors

05 May 2017

Parental Leave in the United States versus other Countries

Around 353,000 babies are born each day around the world to happy couples who are

ready to welcome them into their homes. Parents have to learn what their baby needs and wants

in order to be a good parent. To be able to do this, they have to dedicate time with their new child

to help them grow both mentally and physically. However, work or school can make it

troublesome to find the time to do this because of the policies each country has. Each country has

certain benefits that allow them to spend time with their child some countries being more

lenient with this time than others and these are different in America because of views on

democracy, company policies and the passing of federal policies.

Parental leave is a benefit given to an employee where they are allowed to leave work for

a couple of weeks at a time. It is a broad term which binds together maternity, paternity, and

adoption leave. Maternity leave is a period of time where the mother stops working because she

adopted or is going to give birth while paternity leave applies to the father under the same

circumstances in regards to their spouse. The leave gives the employee an opportunity to take a

furlough to look after the welfare of their child leading to greater health and a better

relationship with the child. Employees are able to enjoy this time and are safe to return to work

without any repercussions. Although this time allows them to bond with their new child, parental

leave benefits are not the same for every new parent. Factors such as the workplace and the

Astorga, Hoskinson, Limn, Perez 2

country they reside in play into effect the length of the leave and the benefits that are entitled to

the employee on said leave.

Out of 193 countries in the United Nations, there are only a small handful that do not give

employees paid parental leave, one of those being the United States. However, there are some

states California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island that have gone ahead and chosen to give

their female employees paid maternity leave. Although many mothers do not have a paid leave,

the Family and Medical Act protects them from losing their jobs and allows them to return to

their old positions. New fathers also procure a limited range of benefits. Less than 20% of

employers giving their male employees paid paternity leave and their leave ranges from two

weeks to six weeks, most of them being unpaid. The only states that are an exception to having

unpaid leave is California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. As a result of these leaves being

unpaid, people with a lower income have no option but to leave their child at home in the hands

of a caretaker or family member while they return back to work. Even if they decided to leave

work to look after their child, their pay is cut to less than half, leading to a wage gap between the

new parents and the non-parent employees. These minimal benefits for new parents has led to

much controversy in the paternal benefits that each couple receives. Many want a transformation

to occur in the laws that affect these benefits so that every new parent has an equal length of

leave that is paid that will allow them to bond with their new child. These changes have not yet

fully occurred, but the United States president Donald Trump has began to change the old

maternity leave policy for a new paid one.

Astorga, Hoskinson, Limn, Perez 3

 Of the countries that do offer parental leave, three of them do an outstanding job when

compared to the rest of the countries. One of those countries is Sweden where new parents are

authorized 480 days of leave at 80% of their normal pay. In addition to the 18 weeks reserved for

mothers that both parents can split up however they decide. Sweden is also very unique because

new fathers get an additional 90 paid leave days. Norway is another country that offers options of

paternal leave with more benefits. One of those options includes the mother taking 35 weeks at

full pay or 45 weeks at 80% pay. Meanwhile, fathers can take between zero and 10 weeks

depending on their household income (a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing

a particular household or residence). Together, parents can receive an additional 46 weeks at full

pay or 56 weeks with 80% of their usual income. The third country that offers parental leave is

Lithuania. New mothers get 18 weeks of fully paid leave while the fathers get four weeks of paid

leave. Together, the parents get an additional 156 weeks which they can chose to split up

however they want. For the shared portion, the parents have two options to decide from. They

could have it paid out at 100% for the first 52 weeks until the child is turns 1 or 70% for the first

104 weeks until the child is 2 years old, where the remaining weeks would be unpaid. These

countries give new parents more than a year of paid leave so that they have a chance to bond

with their child while not having to worry about the money. This promotes the idea of creating an

essential bond between the parents and the child.

One of the major factors that lead to this difference of parental leave benefits in different

countries is the due to how America views democracy and its influences on the policies that

affect parental leave. Political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset has spent his career

Astorga, Hoskinson, Limn, Perez 4

observing American exceptionalism and what makes America such a unique place. Through his

years of observation, Lipset has noted that American democracy is based off ideals of

individualism and equality in opportunity and unlike other countries, America has never

experienced a monarchy or feudal system. Since America has not been under a monarchy or

feudal system, the citizens of America are less aware of class divisions and thus a decrease in the

likelihood of the formation of union labors to fight for changes in the policies. In addition, Lipset

states that Americans tend not to think where they are currently at financially but where they

eventually could be. This then leads to Americans having a sympathy for smaller businesses

because many believe that they were small-business people. Thus this sympathy halts the want

for change because after many see themselves owning a shop, they do not their hands tied by any

additional regulations like paid parental leave. Another factor that plays into these differences are

the companies and the policies that the states want to imply. Many companies decide their

policies for parental leave and it is there choice in the benefits and lengths of the leave. There are

some companies, like those in San Francisco, that are voluntarily expanding their parental-leave

policies but others are not so open-minded to this. Lastly, another effect is the passing of federal

policies by the presidents of the United States. When legislators tried to increase the benefits of

the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1986, President George H. W. Bush vetoed it and

stated that it was the business's choice to whether or not to provide a paid leave. Although FMLA

had the support of the next president, Clinton, FMLA would not be amended until 2008,

expanding FMLA to others. Over the last decades, FMLA has hardly changed but this is due to

the reluctance of Congress to expand it or enact a new federal-level parental leave law. Currently,

Astorga, Hoskinson, Limn, Perez 5

Donald Trump is working to pass a new paid maternity leave policy that might ignite a change in

the policies that affect parental leave.

Parental leave allows both new mothers and fathers to be able to spend time with their

child and create an everlasting bond in their first years of life. This period of leave includes

maternity, paternity and adoption leave. The benefits of the leave and if it is paid or not depends

on the country that the new parents live and the passing of policies that are affected by ideas of

democracy. Parents in the United States of America have the least amount of benefits compared

to those in other countries such as Sweden. American couples usually get a maximum of 2

unpaid months of combined leave while those in other countries can receive up to a year and a

half (paid). Although America is behind in the development of new parental leave policies,

President Donald Trump is working to create a federal law that gives mothers paid maternity

leave. Many hope that this will be the change that blazes a change to the limited FMLA policies.
 Astorga, Hoskinson, Limn, Perez 6

Citations

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Kurtzleben, Danielle. "Lots Of Other Countries Mandate Paid Leave. Why Not The U.S.?"

NPR. NPR, 15 July 2015. Web. 08 May 2017.

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