Australia and the United States were the only nations which did not offer a statutory paid maternity leave scheme. The report also found that the statutory schemes of most nations paid a rate at, or close to, 100 per cent of the parent’s previous earnings (OECD 2007). Unpaid parental leave National unpaid maternity leave entitlements were introduced in 1979. A Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration test case led to the inclusion of 52 weeks unpaid maternity leave in federal awards for long-term employees who had 12 months continuous service with one employer (O’Neill et al 2010).
Why is taking off work to give birth a shame in the work place? It is those every babies that will become the future of America. Taking work leave should not be frown upon, it should be applauded. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, in her editorial explains why the US should adopt the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act). First, Gillibrand incorporates progressive diction so the act comes across as a positive change.
Eastman addressed this issue by speaking to the mothers directly, she says, “ Women are to have children when they want them[...] That ensures some freedom of occupational choice; those who do not wish to be mothers will not have an undesired occupation thrust upon them by accident, and those who do wish to be mothers may choose in a general way how many years of their lives they will devote to the occupation of child raising” (“Now we can begin” 1920). Even though she is not using words like “us” or “we” you can sense a feeling of dedication and passion towards the issue. Her tone is serious and because she has children, she wants to be able help in all areas of women’s rights not just one part of it. She mentions all mothers and women that will be mothers.
Maternity leave in the U.S. seems to be very different than in Costa Rica, the Family Medical Leave Act requires employers to allow 12 weeks off for maternity leave but Maternity leave, but it is up to the employer if they are paid or
There’s no typical family as nuclear families as in the past and not everyone lives in a multigenerational household. Same-sex families are also on the rise as sexual ambiguity is undergoing its own wave of acceptance in all political, social, and economic spheres. With the absence of the parents’ presence in the home due to an inability effectively balance work and home life, children could develop an emotional void/absence. Good communicative dialogue between children and their parents where the adults describe their work situation as it relates to the home to create resilient children, could possibly benefit the household.
Theme and figurative language have been used by almost all writers throughout time to develop their ideas and stories. Fiction, nonfiction stories and anecdotes all could contain themes and figurative languages. In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” readers follow the narrator as he and his wife bring in an old, blind man into their home. The narrator is introduced as aloof, insensitive, and rude. As the story continues, the narrator is introduced to his wife’s former boss and friend, the blind man.
Flexibility is vital in motherhood and the workforce. A child may become sick, needing the caring mother, at any given moment. Therefore, the employee needs time to meet the needs of the child, but she should also complete the expected tasks. If she is meeting the company’s needs, flexibility should not be a problem. Preparation and knowing what to expect beforehand is the key to climbing the ladder of success and not fall into the
In “Understanding the “Family Gap” in Pay For Women with Children”, Jane Waldfogel states that “the gap in pay between women and men has been narrowing, the gap between women with children and those without children has been widening” (137). This is happening because the policies for females’ pay during maternity leave and other family emergencies used to be not very clear (Waldfogel 137). It is demonstrated here that if the policies are more organized, there may be a much smaller gap between women with and without families, and between women and men. There was eventually a Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993 which cleared up all the confusion (Waldfogel 140). However, the United States still continues to have one of the shortest periods of time for maternity leave (Waldfogel 142).
A journal published in 2013 by; Whitehouse, Hewitt, Martian & Baird, reiterate that on a universal standpoint, maternity leave is one that segregates the workforce, by gender, the most. In saying this, they argue that inequalities are unsurprising based on employee entitlements and that women are now being given less of a chance in the workforce based on the notion that they are not in the workplace enough. Maternity leave is characterised as employee leave upon the birth/adoption of a newborn child with the inclusion of unpaid/paid work leave. (Fairwork.gov.au, 2015).
The United States, the only high-income country and one of eight in the world that has yet to mandate paid family leave (Haymann, 2013). Paid family is a benefit that allows employees to take time off from work for the birth of a new child or family caregiving. Currently United States offers parents the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) option, which guarantees workers twelve weeks of unpaid leave to care for a new born (DORA, 2018). According to the White house, 39% of full-time American workers have access to paid family leave. The 2014 National Study of Employers (NSE) from families and work institute showed that only 14% of American employers offer paid paternity leave options.
Many establishments believe that to allow birth control coverage, you are contributing to the violation of religious principles of certain governing organizations. There has been much of a heated debate for this issue for some time, and as expected, has offended many people and put many in hardships that count on this coverage to support themselves through life’s obstacles. Are these particular establishments really calling themselves ethical amidst this decision to ban the right for these students to get assistance for birth control? Ethics and good governance go hand in hand, the relationships between leaders, systems of ethics regulation and their behaviors have proved that they have put their personal beliefs above caring for their students,
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was established as a requirement for employers to provide leave for their employees when tending to family or medical emergencies. This act guarantees that employees won’t be fired or replaced while away from work due to injury, serious health conditions, childbirth, or family tragedies. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 currently gives employees twelve weeks of unpaid leave. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (F,MLA) should grant employees twelve weeks of paid leave instead because it would better assist low-income employees that lack financial resources, prevent families from going into debt, and it lessens the amount of stress on employees.
The main argument made by Jessica Shortall in her talk “The US needs paid family leave -- for the sake of its future” is that newborns are important to the economy. More Specifically, Shortall argues that women should have longer paid period of maternity, therefore they can properly take care of the future generation. Shortall says “…but that stance ignores a fundamental truth, which is that our procreation on a national scale is not optional. The babies that women, many of them working women, are having today, will one day fill our workforce, protect our shores, and make up our tax base.” In this quotation, Shortall is suggesting that although women are not obligated to have babies, these babies one day will make up the working class that
“Among the various ways men can help women, paternity leave is sometimes mentioned as a good place to start”... “they would help remove the professional stigma surrounding maternity leave and level the playing field.” He also tells us that only twenty-nine percent of those who take it are men. The reason why men don't take advantage of this privilege is because we are expected to be able to endure any type of hardship. "Women who ask for family leave are behaving in a more gender normative way, compared with men who request a family leave....” says Dorment.
I can speak from a personal experience that when I had my children I left my place of employment a couple of weeks before my due date due to medical reasons. Our family was in a financial strain after our baby was born due to loss of income and I was forced to return soon after coming home with a new baby. If I had been offered a paid maternity leave our family would have benefited greatly.
