Fixing Parental Leave

The Six Month Solution

Gayle Kaufman

• Editorial: NYU Press
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781479892990
• Categoría: Ciencias sociales
• Categoría: Matrimonio y sociología familiar

A real-world solution for parental leave that promotes gender equality at work and at home

What do Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and the United States have in common? These three nations are the only ones that do not offer some form of parental leave to new parents. The US lags far behind the rest of the world on this important issue, raising questions about our commitment to gender equality and the welfare of our families.

In Fixing Parental Leave, Gayle Kaufman takes an in-depth look at parental leave policies in the US, the UK, and Sweden, and evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of leave policies in each country. She finds that there is more to parental leave policies than whether a country provides time off around the birth or adoption of a child. While most policies are designed to help women return to work, this is only half of the puzzle. The second half requires men to be meaningful partners by encouraging them to take equal time at home.

Ultimately, Kaufman arrives at a rational solution that will promote gender equity through a policy that enables parents at companies of all sizes to spend six months with their new child.

1

The US Is Way behind the Rest of the World

Why is maternity leave so terrible in this country?

New York Magazine, March 8, 20161

US dead last among developed countries when it comes to paid maternity leave.

Forbes, April 6, 20162

Paid parental leave elusive twenty-five years after Family and Medical Leave Act—The US ranks last on this important issue.

CNN, February 5, 20183

The United States stands out as one of the very few countries in the world (with Papua New Guinea and Suriname) that do not offer any cash benefits during maternity leave.4 This despite the fact that, all the way back in 1952, the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) recommended that countries implement at least fourteen weeks of paid maternity leave. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 85 percent of American workers have access to unpaid family leave, mainly through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).5 However, the same report shows that only 12 percent of workers have access to paid family leave, mainly through employer policies. This has increased slightly in the last few years, but as of 2018, only 15 percent of civilian workers in the US had access to paid family leave.6 This is even the case when it comes to paid maternity leave. According to a recent survey of a national sample of working mothers, only 41 percent received paid leave, and the average amount of paid leave was just 3.3 weeks, at 31 percent of wages.7

On top of that, a recent study by economist Jay Zagorsky shows that the number of women taking maternity leave in the US has not changed significantly in the past two decades.8 Specifically, in 1994, on average, 278,454 women took maternity leave each month compared to 299,861 in 2015. Since the number of births in 1994 and 2015 were similar (3.95 million versus 3.98 million, respectively), the rate of maternity leave changed little. On the other hand, the number of men taking paternity leave more than tripled over this time period. In 1994, the average number of men taking paternity leave each month was 5,798, compared to 21,703 in 2015, with a corresponding increase in the rate of leave-taking from 14.7 per 10,000 births to 54.6 per 10,000 births. Keep in mind that most of those taking leave did not receive paid parental leave. Certainly, many more American women would take paid maternity leave if it were available to them, and the tremendous increase in American men taking paternity leave suggests that there is a huge, growing, unmet need in the US for paid paternity leave. But American parents, practically alone in the world, have no national policy to rely on. How can this be? Why is there no paid leave at the national level? What has happened at the state and local level? Have employers stepped in to fill the need for paid leave? Will we ever see the US adopt paid parental leave?

This chapter attempts to address these questions by focusing on parental leave policy in the US, namely the absence of a paid statutory parental leave policy at the national level and efforts to fill the gap at the state and local levels. While there is no federal paid parental leave, eight states have passed legislation to implement it at the state level, and others have used short-term disability to offer paid maternity leave. This is a distinct feature of the US, where many policies that are not supported at the federal level are left to be determined by individual states. In addition, private employers are increasingly creating and expanding paid parental leave policies, though these tend to benefit more professional workers.9 The following sections focus on leave policies at the national, state, city, and employer levels. To contextualize the tensions between broader policy and individual experiences, I draw from company statements and news releases as well as from interviews with American fathers. The final section discusses the policy possibilities moving forward.

Before reviewing the development of parental leave policies in the US, it may be useful to provide an overview of relevant terminology. We must first make a distinction between paid and unpaid leave. There is no paid leave at the federal level, but some states and employers provide a percentage of employees’ wages or salary. Those who are eligible for unpaid leave may be able to use paid vacation or sick days, if available from their employer, to cover their pay. Some states and employers make distinctions between maternity and paternity leave, but most policies refer to parental or family leave, the latter being inclusive of leave to provide care for sick family members.

The Absence of Statutory Paid Parental Leave at the National Level

The only US federal policy that addresses parental leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was passed in 1993 and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton. There was much resistance to this act as it was introduced in Congress each year between 1984 and 1993. It finally passed in 1991 and 1992, only to be vetoed by Republican President George H. W. Bush. Much of the opposition to FMLA focused on the potential damage to businesses and employers.10 On the other hand, much of the motivation for introducing family leave centered on women’s increasing participation in the labor force. In particular, legislators noted the need to respond to the dramatic rise in employment among mothers of young children and the growing need for two-income households, as well as the surge in single-parent families.11 Arguments in favor of FMLA raised the potential benefits to businesses, including lower turnover rates and increased productivity. Interestingly, some politicians at the time also noted that the US was out of touch with the rest of the world on this issue. Notably, however, there was very limited discussion of fathers and paternity leave at this time.12

The final version signed by President Clinton in January 1993, which has been in effect since August 1993, allows up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for eligible employees. When first drafted, the bill provided eighteen weeks for parental leave and twenty-six weeks for medical leave.13 Although Dr. Berry Brazelton, pediatrics professor at Harvard and host of “What Every Baby Knows,” testified before Congress that parental leave should be at least four months to allow for healthy bonding between parent and child, in order to gather enough support to pass the bill the length of leave was reduced to twelve weeks.14 Pressure for paid leave from women’s organizations was unsuccessful, as the political environment during the Reagan era emphasized small government, and the sponsors realized that an unpaid leave benefit would have the best chance of passing.15 It was not ideal, but it was the best we could do at the time.

FMLA, as its name suggests, covers family and medical reasons for leave. Medical leave includes time off to care for oneself or a family member (spouse, child, parent) who is experiencing a serious medical condition. Family leave includes time off for pregnancy, adoption, or foster placement and care o...