Maternity Leave and Why the US is the Only Developed Nation Without It
Broadly (2016)
Film Review
Maternity Leave focuses on the failure of the US government to offer working mothers paid maternity leave. The US is one of two countries globally (the other is Papua New Guinea) and the only developed country without it. The rest of the world provides paid maternity leave for two simple reasons: 1) because spending time with mom is vital to newborn development and 2) because studies show financial advantages for employers, taxpayers and GDP.
Three states require employers to provide paid maternity leave: California six weeks at 55% salary, Rhode Island four weeks at 60% salary and New Jersey six weeks at 67% salary.
Ninety percent of California businesses report an increase in profitability (owing to the high cost of recruiting and training replacement workers) since they started providing paid maternity leave. Nationwide replacement workers for women who leave work to start a family cost billions of dollars. Forty percent of women without access to paid maternity leave are forced to apply for public assistance, which is also a major burden to taxpayers.
The filmmakers visit excruciatingly poor Papua New Guinea, to investigate their failure to provide paid maternity to leave – only to discover the government of Papua New Guinea provides three months paid maternity leave for public employees. This is a start contrast with an extremely anemic executive order Obama signed in 2015 allowing federal employees to “pre-use” six weeks of paid sick leave (which they haven’t earned yet) as maternity leave.
The filmmakers also visit Sweden, which has the world’s best maternity leave policy. Their generous paid parental leave (480 days per child split between both parents) has helped to bring more Swedish women into the workforce while simultaneously increasing GDP.
They interview a member of Sweden’s Feminist Party, who maintains that paid maternity leave is a matter of full equality for women. True equality means that women enjoy the same rights as men to both a job and family time – they shouldn’t have to sacrifice one for the other.
Real equality also means embracing and valuing traditional women’s work (homemaking, child care and elder care).
The Most Revolutionary Act 
IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, AND ROBOTS TAKING OVER JOBS, ADULTS HAVE NO TIME FOR THEMSELVES LET ALONE CHILDREN. WHO WOULD WANT TO BECOME PREGNANT AT THE END OF THIS AGE??? MATERNITY LEAVE WILL NOT SOLVE ANYTHING, THE CHILD WILL HAVE TO STILL BE TAKEN CARE OF IN THE SAME FASHION, WHEN THE PARENTS RETURN TO WORK. IN FACT, THE SAME COMPLICATIONS WILL BE THERE, WITH OR WITHOUT MATERNITY LEAVE. SOME WOMEN LEAVE WORK, UNTIL THE CHILD BECOMES OLDER. MATERNITY LEAVE WOULD IN ALL CASES BE MORE DESIGNED FOR THE UPSCALE PROFESSIONAL FAMILY, AND NOT THE POOR FAMILIES HAVING TO MAKE ENDS MEET. IT ALWAYS WORKS OUT THIS WAY IN THIS WORLD. WHO ARE THE KIDDING???
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I guess as a child psychiatrist, the period I really worry about is from age 0-3, as stress during this period has disastrous effects on the way genetic expression is determined and essentially determines a person’s health and emotional stability for a lifetime. Obviously the ideal situation would be a universal child benefit (they used to have this in both the UK and New Zealand) or an unconditional basic income – which would absolutely guarantee the financial stability for at least one parent to stay home.
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SOME GOOD POINTS NO DOUBT. WE MUST ALL TAKE NOTE OF THE FACT THAT HOME SCHOOLED OFF SPRING LEARN FAR MORE AND DO FAR BETTER IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, THAN COMPARED THAT THOSE WHO DO NOT. MOREOVER, WE MUST DISCOURAGE PEOPLE FROM HAVING CHILDREN OUT OF WEDLOCK. MANY PEOPLE OF CHILDBEARING AGE THINK A MARRIAGE LICENSE IS NOT IMPORTANT, BUT IN EVERY WAY IT IS, A MARRIAGE LICENSE TO A CHILD, GIVES A CHILD A STATEMENT AND DECLARATION THAT SAYS WE ARE FAMILY AND YES MOM AND DAD WANT TO BE BONDED. A MARRIAGE LICENSE IS STABILITY TO A CHILD, AND IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE PARENTS CELEBRATING AN ADVERSARY. TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE THINKING OF THEMSELVES AND NOT THE CHILDREN.
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Pingback: No Maternity Leave? Only in the US | AGR Daily News Service
Paid maternity leave shared by mom and dad certainly promotes equality. Early parental bonding with baby sets the stage for life – it’s wonderful for the family. And I suspect it might contribute to a reduction in a nation’s overall crime and mental illness rates.
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MAY BE SO, BUT IN REALITY A CHILD DOES FAR BETTER, WHEN THERE IS A FULL TIME MOTHER AT HOME. THE FATHER SHOULD MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS, OR DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO HAVE A CHILD. ABOVE ALL ELSE EACH COUPLE SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN. WHEN A MOTHER HAS TO RETURN TO WORK, THE SAME BONDING CONCEPT APPLIES. YES, WE HAVE NOT GOTTEN AWAY FROM THE MOTHER BEING THE HOMEMAKER, AND THE FATHER BEING THE BREADWINNER, THIS WHERE MOST OF THE PROBLEMS HAVE STARTED, WE HAVE TOO MUCH AXED THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY. NOT SAYING WOMEN CAN NOT BE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES, BUT MIND YOU A CHILD IS FAR BETTER WITH A FULL TIME MOTHER AT HOME!!!
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Absolutely, JoAnn. Infants that don’t bond properly with mom develop crippling attachment disorders that have devastating effects on their future ability to maintain stable employment and relationships. I found it really interesting to come to New Zealand, where there is really heavy focus on bonding and attachment. In the US, in contrast, child psychiatry is much more focused on medicating children.
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THIS IS SO VERY TRUE. I WAS FORTUNATE TO BE RAISED BY PARENTS WHO WANTED TO BE PARENTS, AND I HAD A BIOLOGICAL FATHER WHO WAS GLAD AND HAPPY TO BE A MAN, AND A BIOLOGICAL MOTHER WHO WAS GLAD AND HAPPY THAT SHE WAS A WOMAN. I THINK THAT WHEN PEOPLE GO THROUGH SEX CHANGES AFTER HAVING CHILDREN, IT IS ABSOLUTELY FATAL TO ANY CHILD. IF A PERSON THINKS THEY WANT A SEX CHANGE DO NOT MARRY, AND DO NOT HAVE CHILDREN. SO MUCH “CREATIVE” IMMORALITY OF TODAY IN TIMES.
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Everything works together. If only we had a functional flow.
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The idea would be possible in a properly functioning economy, and ours needs great correction. Our industrial base must return and our national debt has to be cleared first. The Shadow Masters, however, want none of this, global serfdom is their objective, and the industrial-military, or, military-industrial complex must be changed; their knee-capping repo men are ready to collect the debt.
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Marblenecltr, if the US were to adopt a sovereign money system such as Jefferson proposed the debt could be cleared in a day – it would be a simple matter of the government creating the money (on a computer just like the banks do) and paying off the bankers. Likewise they could create money to spend into the economy to provide maternity leave, free childcare and free health care like they do in Sweden. Implementing these programs would create oodles of jobs to put all our unemployed young people to work. This in turn would put money in their pockets to restore all the other sectors of our economy that are collapsing.
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Reblogged this on necltr and commented:
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what globalism will take from you.
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Reblogged this on 1EarthUnited and commented:
Seems like the US establishment require mindless, heartless, subservient corporate drones. Intimate bonding during infancy is not part of the globalist’s agenda…. the sheeple may remember it’s humanity! 😉
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