A Peaceful Revolution: Presidential Candidates: Moms and Newborns Need Paid Family Leave

On International Women's Day on Saturday, I started thinking about moms around the world and then moms in our own United States of America. As the mother of four children, I've spent a lot of time over the years breastfeeding babies, and so I wondered: Why do moms in the U.S. still lack a guarantee of some paid maternity leave so they have time to bond with their bundles-of-joy? Why is the U.S. one of only four countries, of 170 surveyed (PDF), without paid leave for mothers following childbirth? (The other three are Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Lesotho).

Though it's a bit of a blur now, one thing I remember clearly is how LONG it takes to breastfeed, especially in an infant's first weeks of life. To be sure, I have exceedingly fond memories of the many hours I spent gazing at my babies (babies, yes! twins meant nursing two at once). But how many hours? It takes eight to ten hours per day to breastfeed a newborn. This important fact alone creates a need for a mother to take a break from work. Doctors, lactation experts, and even infant formula companies acknowledge that "breast is best." But how can a mother be successful in those early make-or-break days if she's working long hours, feeling pressured to get back to work quickly, or wondering how to make ends meet if she doesn't return fast because she has no paid time off?

According to a new study (PDF) released just days ago by the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of American mothers cobble together some sort of paid leave following childbirth by using a combination of sick days, vacation days, disability leave, and employer-provided maternity leave. The good news is that more employers are offering paid maternity leave as a job benefit. But the bad news is that a full 51 percent of new mothers lacked paid leave--so some took unpaid leave, some quit, and some even lost their jobs.

Not surprisingly, the college-educated mothers were most likely to have some paid leave, followed by high school graduates. Those without a high school diploma were least likely to have any paid leave. These results mirror other reports (PDF) on workplace policies: Lower income workers are more likely to need workplace flexibility and less likely to have it because their jobs have the most rigid requirements. New mothers may qualify for unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) but most cannot afford to take it.

Isn't it time to fix this? At MomsRising.org we think so, so this week our members are sending email to the leading Presidential candidates urging them, upon taking office, to make it a priority to pass national paid family leave. Click here to send one yourself. Let's get the U.S. out of the bottom of the pile of countries in support for mothers--tell them the newborns sent you.

"A Peaceful Revolution" is a weekly blog about work/life satisfaction done in collaboration with MomsRising.org. Read a post by a leading thinker in the field every week.

Comments

[Pandu]

I would support paid family leave, but not the way it's presented here.

My wife stays home with the kids. I go out and earn the money. When she has babies, and our fifth is due in a few months, I have to stay home for about two weeks to take care of her. It would be nice if this were paid family leave. Instead I have to save all my other kinds of leave to use for this, even though I normally need to use vacation leave for emergency farm work or automobile repairs, etc.

My staying home to take care of my wife, who stays home to take care of the kids, makes for a strong family. A new mother on parental leave then returning to a job after a few weeks or months is neglecting her duty to be there for her kids.

[ADP4]

I agree that adoptive parents need paid family leave as much as any new parents do.

I strongly disagree that a working mom is being "neglectful" in any way of her children. That's ridiculous. It would be neglectful to fail to get the bills paid, to fail to get food on the table. Not every family can afford to be single income. Not every family's finances, windfalls, debts and incomes add up the same way.

We need to respect people's decisions and support our kids with the very best family-friendly policies. Why does so much of the rest of the world have such strong family policies, but the US does not? Thank you for reminding us of this for Intl Women's Day. To strengthen our families, the US needs to support early bonding by supporting paid family leave. Wonderful blog post.

[karen4Uk]

Yes...What is more important to the real security and stability of a society. The birthright to be parented securely, suckled at the breast and allowed to feel safe is still essentially a taboo subject in this society. I"ve found that those who poo-poo this usually didn't "get it" when they were babes. I addressed this lack of candidate focus on paid parental leave, without your good focus on breastfeeding...which is a foundation issue in healthy early bonding and healthy infancy/life, in my Feb. 29 post. "Celebrating Fertile Bodies as Well as Fertile Minds". I also support anon004 in stressing that even in those situations where breastfeeding is not biologically possible, time off for family and deep nurturance must be supported for all families. Thanks for this post.

[anon004]

I understand why your blog focused on breastfeeding, which is really important (I know because I was fortunate enough to have the chance to do that when my son was born). What most people don't recognize is that bonding with one's child is just as important when you adopt. I was also lucky enough to be able to leave my job because I didn't qualify for family leave when we adopted our daughter and my bosses were totally insensitive to my situation (I don't know how many families have that luxury.). I'm sure you would support adoptive families everywhere by agreeing that we need rights to paid leave just like every other family, even though a biological function like breastfeeding isn't involved.


(I'm looking at what I wrote and it infuriates me because I have to qualify everything I write by saying I'm fortunate to have had the opportunity to actually care for both my children. What does that say about the priorities of our society that I feel privileged to do that?!?)