To our collective future - Paid Parental Leave in America matters.

Today is my first day back at work after becoming a mom. My employer provided 8 weeks #paidfamilyleave.

If you work in America, the country with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, that might strike you as an especially generous leave period given there is no national mandated law for paid family leave. In comparison to what progressive American employers offered 10, 20, or 30 years ago, it might shock you. However, if you work outside of USA, for example in Europe, Canada, Brazil, Russia, India, or China, my leave might strike you as not nearly enough recovery time to ensure a healthy worker returns to the office.

As an American worker with a global perspective and a first hand experience as a new parent, I believe that #Paidparentalleave in the #usa should be a right, not a privilege, and it should be offered for a minimum of sixteen weeks. I am deeply disappointed that paid parental leave in America is currently only a #privilege afforded to 27% of American workers whose employers offer it. This gift of financial security during this essential time sets up two or more new lives (yes, parents & baby/babies!) on the right path. I also believe it is essential #healthcare. I'm ready for America to catch up to the rest of the world, following the example set by countries that truly lead in this area (more to come on that below).

As Feminist activist Carol Hanisch said in 1970, "The personal is political." Since childhood, I have advocated for Women's Rights across the gamut and at all identity intersections, especially for Sexual & Reproductive, Health, Rights & Justice (#SRHRJ ). I've also been a published scholar and a professional in the work for #genderequality at home and abroad. In 2009, I presented my research on #paidmaternityleave at an undergraduate academic conference, young and hopeful that things would soon be progressing. In the past ten years, I've had the privilege to do this work in #global #genderequality professionally at Women for Women International and at the United Nations Foundation.

Becoming a full-time working Mom has lit an even deeper fire inside of me on this issue. Motherhood changed me in every way possible. Scientific research has proven that a person's mind and body (and I would add soul) are upgraded after bringing forth new life into the world. According to new neuroscience research cited by Chelsea Conaboy in her recent book, "Mother Brain," a person's brain changes 80% (!!) after birthing and while in their period of Matrescence. Never heard that word before? It was new for me, too! Essentially, we all know that baby is born… but it's just as important to know that the birthing person is re-born. New motherhood and new parenthood is an intense period of learning and forging new neural pathways. Collecting income during this period is essential for the wellbeing of all parties. If America truly values women, mothers, parents, and the future of the American workforce, let's extend this time as long as possible. In fact, this was the recommendation made 60 years ago (!!) to President Kennedy in 1963 by the President's Commission on the Status of Women.

It's no surprise that expenses increase with a little one. Having those precious 8 weeks of #paidmaternityleave ?meant having financial and time resources that helped me and baby not only in my physical recovery, but also in navigating this enormous physical and psychological life change. The only thing better would have been to have even more weeks.

As my friend Betsy Bramon writes, "Paid leave isn't just about health for mom and baby, it's about fully cohesive families, it about partners bonding with their children and sharing care work-- and economic justice. But health is central because the US also has maternal mortality rates double that of our global peers, despite all we spend on healthcare (and those rates are even more dire for black and brown pregnant people). Pregnancy and post-partum are serious work, and essential foundations for the long-term health, wellness and prosperity of a family-- sometimes even for generations."

Returning to work after giving birth (or as the Spanish speakers say, giving to the light), I now live in a brand new world (Hello, 2024!) and I have a brand new identity. Statistically speaking, I am also now included in the 55% of American mothers with children younger than the age of 18 (which is itself a full-time job without pay) who also work full-time outside of the home.

In 1993, U.S. President Clinton passed the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which enabled all #americans, regardless of gender, who have been employed for one full year already at a job that employees at least 50 employees are eligible for 12 weeks of UNPAID #familyleave after the birth or adoption of a child. During this period, their job, or a job of similar pay and level, is meant to be saved for them their return.

This was a good start in 1993, but now, over 30 years later and as the country with the highest #GDP in the world, we can do SO MUCH better!

Some American companies now offer up to 6 months of paid family leave. My employer (the?United Nations Foundation ) provides full time pay for eight of the twelve weeks covered by FMLA and I am thankful. To cover the remaining weeks of my paid maternity leave, I saved vacation/sick leave and relied on employer-provided insurance provided through disability leave. Yes, you read that right. Birthing a baby is classified as a disability according to U.S. law and U.S. insurance companies.

Nearly all other countries around the world (over 100)?offer some type of federally mandated #paidleave for employees following the birth of a child. The #unitedstates is the only industrialized nation without paid leave. The global minimum is six weeks of #paidleave and the global average of 18 weeks.

To put it in perspective...Just next door, our neighbors in #canada are entitled to federal #paidfamilyleave for up to one full year!

Lucky for us, some individual U.S. States have started to enact their own mandated family leave from a U.S. State level.

From the Bipartisan Policy Center: "Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted mandatory paid family leave systems. An additional eight states have voluntary systems that provide paid family leave through private insurance. Of the 22 total state leave laws, 18 have been implemented and the remaining are not yet in effect."

And while having de facto state and federal paid family leave is essential, it is arguably even more important for those policies to have de jure implementation in the everyday lives of Americans. In layman's terms, what I mean is that employers must encourage their staff to use their paid leave. Many American workers are afraid to use their legal, paid family leave because of the discrimination that has historically happened upon return to the workplace. Sometimes company leaders don't set the example from the top of taking their full, paid leave. Sometimes promotions are denied or delayed for those employees who do choose to take their full leave, whether paid or unpaid.

American need their full paychecks now more than ever with historic inflation and rising commodity and home prices post-pandemic. Taking legal, well-earned family leave or coming back to job with a path to promotion should never have to be a choice.

ALL mothers and parents deserve this essential #healthcare , ESPECIALLY in the wealthiest and most prosperous country in the world.

Sources:

• US Bipartisan Policy Center
• New America
• US Census Data
• World Bank
• Conaboy, Chelsea. "Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood" (2022)
• "America is the only rich country without a law on paid leave for new parents," The Economist, June 18, 2019 https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/07/18/america-is-the-only-rich-country-without-a-law-on-paid-leave-for-new-parents