Family and Medical Leave Act
Family legislation acts may be passed but it still doesn’t change the discrimination towards women. The Family and Medical Leave Act is an act that was passed in the year 1993 during President Clinton’s term of presidency. This act was brought by strict guidelines to protect one’s right as an employee to take a medical leave absence from their jobs without the fear of being demoted, receiving lower payer, and even termination. This reform has widely helped American Workers to be able to both balance their career and personal lives knowing that there won’t be any consequences. Bill Clinton claims that this legislation being passed has had a major impact on his presidency “There are few greater joys for me as a private citizen than seeing the impact the FMLA has had on hardworking Americans over the last 20 years” (Clinton). This legislation seems to really focus on expected mothers because some women kept working till they were almost due because they knew their job was not guaranteed once they delivered their baby. Bill Clinton passing this legislation has really helped many women and men are able to take care of their health issues and even have a family. This legislation can be related to the class reading Split Dreams by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber by the terms of the glass ceiling of women and men finally being able to have freedom to their personal issues and working women and their families.
The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier has been overcome by the legislation of the family and medical leave act for both men and women. Women mainly middle class women are now able to work and start a family because of this act. More even began to work it grew from 35 to 67 percent which is quite a huge impact. Men also had the main trouble to be able to take time off from their jobs for the reason being that they were providers for the home so they couldn’t afford losing their job for medical issues before this legislation took action. A father of daughter with
Cited: Clinton, Bill. “Why I signed the Medical and Family Leave Act.” Politico Pro. May. 1998.
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy. Working Women in America Split Dreams. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Hochschild, Arlie. The Second Shift. New York: Penguin Press, 2003.
STEPHENS-ROMERO, JENNIE. "THE CAL FED CONTROVERSY: Distinguishing California 's Pregnancy Leave Law And The Family And Medical Leave Act." California Legal History 7.(2012): 469-493. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.