Currently, in the United States, the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law, requires businesses with 50 or more employees to provide 12 weeks unpaid leave. This is family leave without pay and leaves the rest of us who work for small businesses behind. If you are a mother and primary financial provider and caregiver, this can be difficult to navigate. Your only hope is finding a job before you start showing and hope they borrow you PTO time and when they call you back early, you're ready for it. Other countries besides the United States are singing a different tune. According to NPR, counties in the United Nations agreed that a minimum of 14 weeks of leave along with two-thirds to a cap of the employee's salary paid, was a fair start. There are many to most countries that go beyond this, and at least 50 countries provide six months or more paid leave.
The question that is always asked is who will pay for it. You will commonly hear statements that range from sensibility to ignorance on the issue. Taking a look at how other countries structure and pay for their leave will give insight into the idea of adequate paid leave.
France offers maternity after working a certain amount of time paying into the system and then having access to the funds. There are social insurance structures that pool together money from contributions such as employers, employees, and general revenue to take the full burden off companies. To avoid discrimination, through the social insurance, the responsibility is spread evenly. Otherwise, some reports indicate it can be harder for women to find jobs or get promoted during their childbearing years. The Business Insider outlines the top 10 countries with paid leave starting with Finland. Finland's government offers maternity grants and covers 7 weeks before birth and 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and 8 weeks of paid maternity leave. There are additional supports also available for families up until 2nd grade. Next, Denmark provides four weeks before birth and 14 weeks after birth paid in full along with benefits for fathers. The rest of the top 10 is looking pretty good too. In the United States, the federal government may have a plan to boost maternity leave and provide more time off that may provide six weeks of paid maternity leave to new mothers before returning to work.
