Question

1. Answer the following in detail. (I'll give a thumbs up! Thanks.)

A. How does maternity leave in the US compare to other countries?

B. Which country/ies offer the best maternity leave and what is it like?

C. What is “motherhood penalty”?

Answer 1

A.United States of America is the only developed country that does not provide paid family leave. The government does not provide maternity leave.Only 11% of the women are provided with paid maternity leave in the private sector jobs of US.The US government provides 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave with job security.There is no paid parental leave in US.

Whereas the french government provides 16 weeks of paid parental leave and family allowance every month to help them with the child expenses.

In finland the government provide every pregnant women with a package which includes the necessary items required for the baby.On additional to that the government providess the Day care centres for the child upto the age of seven & paid leave for the mother for first 3 years after the birth of child.

Many other countreis offers paternity leave as well.e.g. In sweden, there are 8 weeks reserved for each parent.

According to 2014 International labour organization report, there are only two countries that do not provide cash benefits for maternity leave.United States of America abd Papua New Guinia.Sweden is the country that provide the best out of these.They provide 60 weeks of paid leave.

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act 1993, The US guarantees 3 months of unpaid leave for a small set of jobs- those who hare working in a company foe 1 year or more and having atleast 50 or more employees in the company.Only 5% of low-wage earners recieve paid maternity leave.

In brazil, there is 6 months of paid maternity leave.In japan the women can take the maternity leave 6 week before the expected day of delivery and 8 weeks after the delivery too.Vietnam provides one of the longest maternity leave in asia -6 months.In Korea, there is no maternirty leave, the job may be terminated if taken.In chile, 24 weeks of paid maternity leave is provided.They can take first 12 weeks after the delivery and next 18 weeks half a day too.In south africa, there is a mandatory 6 weeks of maternity leave.In china, there is 128 days of maternity leave.In Kenya, there is 6 months of paid maternity leave.In UK there is 52 weeks of paid maternity leave and two weeks of paternity leave too.In Iceland, they get a full of 9 months of maternity leave for both the parents.

B.Sweden is the country that provide the best out of all the countries in the world that provide a family-friendly approach to the working women.They provide 60 weeks of paid leave.

C.The motherhood penalty is the term to describe bias mothers face in the workplace as a result of simply being you guessed it, mothers.The bias is a result of gender stereotypes that society holds of men as breadwinners and women as mothers.The gender expectations create a lot of bias particularly for mothers who are perceived as less competent, as a result of simply having a baby.This is irrespective of their education, experience, performance or hours worked.Mothers are also percieved as less committed, less dependable, and less authoritative than non-mothers.This bias impacts perceptions of performance, pay and long term career success.Researchers find that mothers suffer a per-child wage penalty of approximately 5% on avarage, after controlling for the usual factors that affect wages.This results in a pay gap between the non-mothers and mothers thet is larger than the gap between men and women.In the US, 71% of mothers work and in 40% of households with children, the mothers are the primary or sole breadwinner.Given the financial and career costs too mothers, the motherhood penalty is something we need to fix and fast.