Paid Parental Leave In Society

Parental Leave in Society In many cases, couples wait until they reach a financially stable point in their lives with a reliable job for each partner before they make the decision to conceive a child. Experiencing the miracle of childbirth marks the beginning of a new chapter of a couple’s life, where new parents fall in love with the tiny addition to their family and take on enormous caregiving responsibilities. However, parents may not have enough time to balance a job and a newborn. To counter families’ time constraints, governments around the world allow mothers and fathers to take time off from their jobs in an unpaid absence called maternal and paternal leave, respectively. Countries offer paid maternal and/or paternal leave as well.
United States mothers currently only receive 12 weeks of unpaid leave and fathers receive no leave. The United States needs to give paid leave to new parents and allow the parents to determine how to split the allotted leave time.
Paid parental leave helps strengthen the family unit and allows both parents to bond with their child. Through the American Academy of Political and Social Science, founded in 1889 and led by political economist Edmund James to promote progress in social sciences, Margaret O'Brien associates extended parental leave with reductions in infant mortality, especially after the fist month of care. Similarly, fathers who use at least 20 percent of all potential leave days tend to show more involvement in childcare and family matters. O’Brien also reported parents feel they greatly value the opportunity for nurturing and bonding that longer parental leave allows (O’Brien 205-206). In the long run, the government aims to provide optimal quality of life to the best of its ability for its citizens. Providing the chance for parents to spend quality
Marjorie E. Starrels, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, describes Sweden as the country with the most generous and progressive parental leave policies in the world. The Swedish government gives couples up to 480 days of calendar leave (reserving two months for the father, three for the mother, and the rest for division between both parents), paid for by social security. For the first 390 days the mother receives 80% compensation, and for all days afterwards she receives a flat rate (Starrels 946-947). In doing so, Sweden attempts to bring more women to the work force, raise the birth rate, and lift gender stereotypes. The United States suffers from low birth rates as well. Fertility rates (number of births per 1,000 women ages 15-44) in the U.S. during 2016 reached a record low – only around 60 births per 1,000 women (Park). An increase in paid parental leave would help correct the low fertility rates and encourage couples to raise more children, and promote stable population growth. In the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, started in 1962 to promote historical awareness in scholarly articles, Katherine Ravenswood and Ann-Marie Kennedy write about the history and progression of New Zealand’s parental leave policies. New Zealand offers 38 weeks of paid leave, funded by the government (Ravenswood, Kennedy