Something that I have been really looking into lately in of one of my classes is paid parental leave in the US. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist (on a national level). The US is one of the only developed countries in the world to not have a national policy on paid parental leave. Currently under the Family and Medical Leave Act, parents are granted 12 weeks of unpaid leave but many families, fathers in particular, return to work within a matter of days in order to keep up with the financial stress that having a child brings. Certain states such as California do have policies in place for paid leave but as a whole, the US is far behind on this issue. For example, Finland has a policy of 14 months paid leave to be split between the mother and the father.
Here is a list of some of the benefits of paid parental leave
- Better connection between the child and their parents during the crucial first few months of their life
- Decreased chance of developing postpartum depression and other depressive mental disorders
- Decreased chance of families applying for welfare (TANF)
- Higher infant immunization rates
- Longer breastfeeding period
- Lower infant and neonatal mortality rates
- More routine medical checkups for the child
- More likely for women to return to work
Let that be some food for thought when thinking about what needs to be done in the future of paid parental leave policies.