I’ve read all the stats before, but reading this article just reinforced in my mind just how ass backwards the U.S. is when it comes to creating family friendly workplaces and leave options. If it wasn’t for the fact that I horded my sick and personal time for 8 years, I would have had to take part of my 12 week FMLA leave unpaid. If we have another child, they won’t be so lucky to get 12 weeks with momma. We HAVE to have a paycheck coming in from me and as of this month, I’ve managed to accumulate 3 1/2 weeks of vacation time and 2 weeks of sick time. Much of the vacation time was spared during my maternity leave with Sofia because I had all that horded sick and personal time. Even if I were to get pregnant in the next month or two, the most I could have saved up in 9 months is an additional 3 weeks or so of time. And that’s IF I don’t take any time for vacation or if Sofia (or myself) gets sick.
The fact that the United States is in the great company of Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland when it comes to guaranteeing paid leave for expectant mothers makes me cringe. Yes folks, there are 168 countries other than those 5 that guarantee leave with pay for new mothers and many of them for new fathers. The United States should be embarrassed. When the norm these days is for both partners in a household to be in the workforce, I would think that a country as rich as ours would be able to offer as much help as possible to families.
I also understand that the article says that the greatest burden of adopting such a policy would fall on small businesses and not on the large corporations. My husband works for a small business and I know what the situation is with this state’s tax structure and how hard it makes it to stay in business. But is it worth losing a good employee? What about the added stress on a new mom (and baby) of leaving their newborn after 6 weeks because they have to return to work to make ends meet? I can attest to the fact that at 6 weeks postpartum, I was NOT ready to come back to work. Hell, I was under doctors orders to take it easy for 6 weeks after ending up with a C-section. Add the stress of scraping by in the pocket book and you’ll have an employee returning to work tired, stressed, guilt ridden and lacking focus.
I am lucky that I work for a University that has flexible options if needed for family care and most people in the higher up ranks are understanding when you have to take care of family business. We also have network or mailing lists for parents and breastfeeding moms. If it wasn’t for that breastfeeding list, I would have been pumping my breastmilk in the bathroom stall for at least a month more than I even should have been doing it. Instead, I got information of private, women only lounges on campus that I could go to when I was not near my office building to take care of business. I can’t imagine not having that support network to just take care of your child with the goodness of breastfeeding. I figure, if smokers are guaranteed a break, perhaps extending that privilege to mothers shouldn’t be that far of a stretch. But according to the article, “the U.S. does not guarantee the right to breastfeed, even though breastfeeding is proven to reduce infant mortality.” Luckily, some states do and I hope you live in one if it is your choice to breastfeed.
Hurried and Harried 