Why Doesn't the US Have Paid Parental Leave?
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- Опубликовано: 28 окт 2019
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The day is finally here! Your baby has arrived and you're officially a new parent! But how long until that new baby smell wears off and you're forced to return to work and find reliable childcare? Today Danielle looks at the history maternity leave around the world and why the United States is one of eight nations in the world without any guaranteed, government regulated PAID parental leave.
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Created and Hosted by Danielle Bainbridge
Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios
#OriginOfEverything #PaidLeave #ParentalLeave
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Origin of Everything is a show about the undertold histories and cultural dialogues that make up our collective story. From the food we eat, to the trivia and fun facts we can’t seem to get out of our heads, to the social issues we can’t stop debating, everything around us has a history. Origin of Everything is here to explore it all. We like to think that no topic is too small or too challenging to get started.
Works Cited:
Baker, Maureen. "Parental Benefit Policies and the Gendered Division of Labor." Social Service Review 71, no. 1 (1997): 51-71. www.jstor.org/stable/30012606.
Avendano, Mauricio, Lisa Berkman, Agar Brugiavini, Giacomo Pasini. “The long-run effect of maternity leave benefits on mental health: Evidence from European Countries.” Social Science & Medicine, vol. 132 (May 2015): 45-53. www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Berger, Lawrence M., Jennifer Hill, and Jane Waldfogel. "Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health and Development in the US." The Economic Journal 115, no. 501 (2005): F29-47. www.jstor.org.turing.library.n....
Ruhm, Christopher J. “Parental Leave and Child Health.” Journal of Health Economics, vol. 19, issue 6 (2000): 931-960.
Han, Wen-Jui, Jane Waldfogel, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. "The Effects of Early Maternal Employment on Later Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes." Journal of Marriage and Family 63, no. 2 (2001): 336-54. www.jstor.org.turing.library.n....
Morgenroth, Thekla. Heilman, Madeline J. “Should I stay or should I go? Implication of maternity leave choice for perceptions of working mothers.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Vol 72 (Sept 2017): 53-56. www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.striking-women.org/module...
tah.oah.org/november-2016/the...
www.urban.org/sites/default/f...
www.worldpolicycenter.org/pol...
fortune.com/longform/us-famil...
Hey Originauts! Get those questions and comments in and I'll be answering them for the next hour our so! And shout out to our friend Sarah Urist Green at The Art Assignment for recommending this topic!
~Danielle
Chubby babies are the best babies! Sorry you couldn't have any on set, but it was still a great episode.
@@BaldingClamydia 1922 Soviet Union is the first country to require 4 weeks of full paid parental leave. no matter what job. all women have that right. and that was 100 years ago
@@carkawalakhatulistiwa did you mean to reply to me? I support parental leave, but I don't think that's what this comment was about 🤷♀️
Its because america is more in probusiness than pro human
Pro market anti labour
🏆
I’d say it was short sighted. Many are anti-abortion but not for free child care and maternal support for single mothers, two ideas that would take much of the pressure off pregnant women. Businesses are against parental leave/child care and choose to train a new employee for mom’s job.
@@TheSuzberry she’s a single mother because she chose to have unprotected sex with a man that was not for to be a father. Her choices are not my responsibility
I think the idea is that pro business IS pro human. If business thrives, people will thrive, too. That was pretty true for a couple of hundred years (well, depending on who you were) but it doesn't work any more.
It's interesting how the US struggles with issues other developed countries already figured out, like the parental leave, health care, gun policies... There are models out there, no need to reinvent anything!
Ain't broke don't fix.
Michael Crockis the us is broke
Michael Crockis, really? Everything is fine? _Everything?_
Behold, the good sir gives away his privileged hand.
@@emexdizzy I live in the country with a median income about 1/8 of the US's. And my income is below median. I have the right for that opinion. We have all those benefits here. On the paper. Mostly on the paper.
lets see public health care is shit, european nations learned nothing about the citizenry being able to arm themselves after what happened to their continent from the nazis, and parental leave is fine, but if it is forced, it will destroy small businesses and create hring bias against expecting parents.
What about poor working class women? Didn’t they work before the war??
Yes and I realize now this could be made clearer. I'm more pointing to the increase in the quantity of women in the workforce changing rather than trying to say no women worked before the war. But good comment!
In Austria you get 3 years off. At least my aunt did. Till lil man was off to kindergarden. Life in Europe is sweet 😍
It is true, I am from Austria - For a couple of years now you can split the 3 years up between mom and dad. You don´t get our full wage, but I think somewhere between 70 and 80%.
I took 2 months off, they got a temp worker to cover my task, I asked for an extra week off but was denied.
What did your aunt’s company do for 3 years while she was away? Do her coworkers have to do her task plus theirs? Is there an abundance of temporary employees covering people on leave? I’m just curious how the work is delegated. Perhaps American companies don’t delegate properly.
@@5pctLowBattery They usually get a new employee as a replacement. They will eighter leave again when the mother returns or have the possibility to stay.
5%LowBattery just like lena said. Thee had a temp woker. :)
@@5pctLowBattery Parents get a year off in Canada, and usually businesses hire a temporary worker to fill in for them. After graduating, my three first jobs were 1-year contracts to replace mothers on maternity leave. I personally liked it. Gave me the chance to try out a few different work environments before settling on something more long term.
Because the oligarchs are already reluctant to pay for labor, they think they’re entitled to zero costs means of production.
I have to wonder how many work related accidents from new parents lack of sleep. Being up every one to four hours.
Also speaking of paid maternal leave it turns out that my home country (Indonesia) does have a paid maternal leave - it is 1½ months before birth and 1½ months after birth, or a period of 3 months in total - and it is established since 2003. The rule also guarantees women employees the rights to have a leave due to miscarriage or stillbirth and paid menstrual leave (eg. for when your period is more painful than usual, it might hinder your performance at work 😫).
It can still be better ofc (eg. It doesn't guarantee for paid paternity leave, doesn't include the period for breastfeeding as a mandatory paid leave period, maximum guaranteed leave period is only 3 months in total, if you need more you need to check with your employers/company, to name a few), but at least it gives me a sense of relief that paid maternity leave in Indonesia is indeed guaranteed by the law.
To an American, this sounds like Heaven. I've never had a child, but menstrual leave is something I really, really could have used. I ended up having a hysterectomy after suffering for almost 20 years and especially for the final 2 years before the surgery. I had to take a lot of unpaid, unexpected time off, which put my job in jeopardy. When I finally did have surgery, I was only out for two weeks - unpaid. My husband wasn't allowed to take (paid) time off to care for me, and his boss was a jerk about letting him rearrange his schedule to be there for the surgery itself. I'm still glad I did it. My quality of life has improved by leaps and bounds. But honestly, a little compassion for workers would go a long way in the U.S. Between fearing for one's job, the loss of income, and sky-high medical bills, basically any health or reproductive-related issue feels insurmountable. I really wish we had the right to just do what we need to do for our health and families instead of having to juggle all of these competing pressures during times when we're least prepared to do that juggling.
Conservative Americans:
"Women shouldn't have paid access to reproductive health care, insurance should cost money and pills are as bad as later-term abortion procedures. Don't tie your tubes, don't you want kids?"
"Women with children shouldn't be in the workforce, they need to devote time to raising their kids. If they are employed, let's pay them less than a man with children."
"Why don't abused women leave their abusive husbands? She should think of her children and not be selfish!"
"Single mothers on welfare who don't work are lazy! They don't deserve money! They should get a job!"
Does anyone else feel like the collective cultural cognitive dissonance is a bit much?
tl;dw- the US is not the super duper most bestest country that Americans are taught that it is.
My job paid full for 16 weeks of maternity leave. It was so nice. I was sad to finally go back.
Where do you work that offers 16 weeks??
Amazon. They actually offer 20 but your Dr has to approve the first 4 weeks. They offer 4 prepartum, 10 post, and 6 for bonding (bonding can be broken up into one week interval used over a year, but I chose to use it all at once cause why not.)
@@johannaandrade6652 you must work in the corporate part of Amazon
@@rouge1ful 100% chance she does.
No. I am a peon associate in a facility. it's what is offered to everyone. a simple research will show you.
Not everyone has had a bad experience there.
Lol she really made herself laugh with that “storkly” joke 😂
Lenz and I’m still trying to find the humor
New father here. In Canada, at least in Québec, fathers/partners get a base of 5 weeks and mothers get 18 weeks and then there is a total of 32 extra weeks to be split between both parents. Adoptive parents get a total of 37 weeks to be shared as the couple sees fit. In all cases you can opt for different plans with more or less payout per weeks. I opted for 17 weeks total and the experience has been good. You get time to adjust to the babies needs and the changing dynamics of your life.
In Ontario we pay into Employment Insurance, so we don't get "paid" during mat leave per se unless your employer chips in, you just are calling on your insurance. Also, I got less than 33 % of my income when I was on parental leave through EI.
@@KatherineHugs Oh, that's unfortunately not as generous. In Québec the plan pays out a percentage of your pay average over the past year. Something like 75% for the first 12 weeks and then 55% for the rest.
New father here in California.. I got 6 weeks paid family leave tax free.. And it pays 70 percent of you gross pay.. 1200 a week isnt bad for being in America
I mean this entirely genuinely: thank you so much for explaining to the American audience here what common sense looks like, and how easy it could be.
Here in Germany , 1 year leave with 60 percent of income to a max of 3 years leave ( of which a lot is non paid). There is still stigma about going back to work as a mother. Mothers of small kids get a bad reputation because they tend to take parental days off work when the child is ill. We are allowed 20 days off per kid per year.
The US has no paid parental leave, no standardized public healthcare policy, but you can haz guns. Such a backward country. Unbelievable.
More reasons to move to Antarctica
Ugh, gosh THANK YOU! This needs to be posted. I am so close to switching my career to change this lack of paternity and maternity leave in the U.S.
Should be noted, fmla has a lot of loopholes. Only covers full time employees. And there are so many ways employers could be exempt. And it’s only 12 weeks for the whole year and includes if you have to take time off for an illness or to take care of a family member. So it could be really difficult if you experience more than one of these things in a year.
Gonna go with greed
Lmao her laugh at the corny storkly joke just warmed my soul
The "take parental leave, don't do it" can be resolved when you have a compulsory parental leave. I've recently learned that in my country it's 20 weeks of obligatory parental leave, that can be split 14-6 weeks between mother and father. That way no one can judge you, since it's not up to you.
Hi there. I think you've misread/misrepresented the WHO guidelines for breastfeeding. I was under the impression it is that infants should be exclusively breastfeed until six months. Infants should then receive breastmilk in compliment with solid foods until two years of age (and beyond is personal choice).
Just the way it was worded in the video made it sound like breastmilk is only important until six months which is a really common misconception :-)
You're so right that it's easier to breastfeed if you're not working but ideally PPL should be at least six months to enable this, beyond six months laws should ensure womens rights to pump at work as necessary to maintain a healthy supply for their infant :-)
"and beyond is personal choice" doesn't the mother stop producing milk after the child reaches a certain age though
@@janedoe0987 no. You produce until you stop breastfeeding/ pumping. As long as your stimulating and draining the milk ducts regularly. U will produce
Who gave this video a thumbs down? Like even if you don’t like or want to have kids this affects you. It’s not a partisan issue it’s just reality.
I support parental leave. I believe parents should have the right to take an X-amount of time with their new kid because it's the right thing.
Estonia actually has the longest paid parental leave out of any country in the world that 85 weeks.
@@rouge1ful In my humble opinion,they should have the option to take however many weeks of their convenience. 85 weeks is obscene because at some point the kids need you to bring home the bacon 🥓.
@@erinwalker6185 what if it's ..... Payed
@@gundism I am ok with it. I think they put it in their kids college fund.
32-40 seems like the minimum needed. By that time, the baby is crawling, usually, and it feels wrong to make a parent go back to work before their child can even move under their own power.
New York state now has a state funded maternity leave. I forget how long it is for
I always realise how lucky I am living in Germany when it comes to health care issues. ❤️
Another problem with FMLA is that you can only use it if you've been with that company for a year. So if you get laid off while pregnant and have to get a new job, you're screwed. There are a lot of situations where you're a good employee but haven't been at an employer for more than a year. So you have to loose that new job too if you decide to have a baby
Undiscussed is the topic of the self employed and how to take time away from a business when doing so might well cause the business to fail.
Personal anecdote: Both my mom and my dad had their own businesses when they got married, and when mom took 12 weeks off when my older sister was born my dad kept his own business going throughout (and mom successfully restarted hers) but when I was born 18 months later and they both stopped working for 6 months (a decision they both repeatedly said was the correct choice) but then my dad was unable to get his customers back and ended up closing his business, and stayed home to care for me and my sister. Mom did great, growing her business for the next 22 years (and it is still going).
My point is that small business owners are often in an impossible bind when it comes maternity/paternity leave for themselves. Perhaps Andrew Yang’s plan for a monthly “freedom dividend” is the right answer for parental leave in general, that having a guaranteed minimum income every month can give enough cushion to the self employed to take time off then restart (perhaps start anew) their business.
Wow, it should be noted that some companies provide emergency care for parents so they do not have to miss work
I wish there was a place to comment on the channel as a whole.
I'm so glad to have found this! I watch SciShow and SpaceTime but since leaving college I feel like I am missing out of learning things outside my sciency field.
Every video I learn more! You could teach so many cable networks about how to actually be "fair and balanced."
In Poland we get the whole year of paid maternity leave, 60 days of paid sick leave if the kid is ill, 2 additional days(or 16 hours) on demand (and I'm not including paid holidays or paternity leave), we get money when the baby is born and we also get money every month for each kid up untill they are 18, there's no such thing as medical bills. We just go to hospital get birth and stay a minimum of 3 days. Both of my kids were slightly premature so we stayed a bit longer and obviously it was free. So was the prenatal care. I can also take 3 years of unpaid leave when I'm guaranteed to keep my position at work. All in all 12 weeks in the US seem like a bad joke on behalf of new mothers.
Who pays for all this.
I’ll tell you. The taxpayers. I don’t want to pay for someone’s child
Great video! Appreciate the citations & explanation of the types of studies used.
There's that super contagious laughter again lol :)
This is why our fertility rate is going down.
"What do you mean people can't afford to stay home and raise kids?? They should stay home and raise kids so our population replacement rate stays up!! What? No we won't subsidize you. Too busy subsidizing oil, agriculture, etc. idk deal with it"
@@pluspiping “give us money or else”
@@juniorqindes8335 hell yeah mf
@@pluspiping don’t get mad when an abortion clinic is bombed and don’t get mad when your reproductive rights are taken.
@@juniorqindes8335 i changed my mind, i think birth rates are going down because nobody wants to sleep with people like junior here
6 months of breastfeeding alone, but after you start introducing other food to your baby it would be better for the baby if you still breastfeed him/her for at least 6 more months. Ideally, it would be best if you coule breastfeed your baby til the 2nd birthday.
Storkly different angles! I got such a kick out of that!
If I ever have kids I’m really lucky to be in Sweden.
Saba Sabina taxes
Taxes everywhere
And everyone else who has to pay for you is unlucky.
I love that you crack yourself up! It’s my favorite thing about this channel.
Seriously how long does it take to fix your hair? It looks awesome but I can’t imagine how long it’d take.
Takes a few hours when I braid it this way actually! But huge shout out to my hairdresser for getting it done since I certainly don't have the dexterity to make this happen on my own. Thanks!!
Origin Of Everything shoutout to your hairdresser for the killer look and shoutout to you guys for making such great content.
This is unrelated to your comment, but I don’t think I have ever seen Andii spelled with 2 i’s before. I have been an Andi, spelled many ways (Andy, Andie, Andi and even ND) throughout my life, and now I am wondering why I never used the double i before. Actually, now that I think about and my penchants for changing the spelling of my name, I probably shouldn’t. Chances are I wouldn’t stop at two. And nobody wants to figure out why this person has 42 i’s in their name on every piece of paperwork.
Thank you for getting tickled over your baby boom joke😅! I tune in for the knowledge blended with quirky humor 🤓
I love your channel! Always relevant topics.
Paid 9 months off here in the uk, I think it’s so bad not to get any maternity leave 😳
When I had my baby in the navy in 1985 I was told I could only have 4 weeks leave and a man with an average broken arm would get 6 weeks leave ...it was simply based on expected bodily healing times
It's more than about healing time. The broken arm isn't a proper comparison.
Danielle, very informative vid and very cool t-shirt!
Love this podcast. Thanks for all the great history lessons!!
I subbed cause the vlogbrothers but you really earned it with the “stork differences” line 😂👍🏻
Money for doctors visits for babies? That’s another problem to address.
You forgot the key part of the family dynamic. Prior to the “nuclear family” households were multigenerational. Grandma and grandpa lived there able to care for their grandchildren being able to still help and provide care for the household while mother and father work.
Sincerely Brilliant video!
Quito-Ecuador
2020
p.s. You are hilarious.
Unrelated, but I love your globe bassinet and BOOKshelves!
Thank you
Whoa....that's rough :/ :/ :/
I LOVE this channel!
Romania is not even a developed country and I think we have a really cool maternity and parental leave legislation (there are some problems with it in practice because of asshole employers but I do like the legislation). First off all as soon as you show proof of pregnancy to your employer you are not allowed to be kicked out, they will have to take you back after your parental leave, and you can ask for a safe environment for pregnancy check (so for instance you can ask for a better chair in an office, or less toxic exposure, change in your working hours stuff like that). You are also allowed 126 days of maternity leave, this is leave just for the pregnant woman, through which your employer has to pay your normal monthly wage and you can take part of it before giving birth if you want to or if your doctor suggests it (in case you have a risk pregnancy you are allowed longer leave), then there is the child-raising leave (up until your child is 2 years old or in case of a sick child until they're 3 years old). This is paid by the state out of your salary based taxes, for this you had to work a minim of 12 months in the past 2 years (although here being on unemployment benefit counts as work, as well as doing a PhD) and during the leave you will be paid 85% of your average salary, based on your salary in the past 12 months of work. This leave can be taken out either by the mother or the father. If the mother decides to come back to work earlier and the father does not take the leave, then she will be paid a larger salary, also if she comes back before the child is 1 years old she's allowed to leave her workplace 2 times a day for an hour each to breastfeed. Oh also after birth fathers get a 5 day paternity leave or 15 days if they completed a baby caring course :))) (paid leave of course)
3:15 cutest laugh!!!
02:12 where can I get that poster?
TIL US is even worse than I thought.
I love her! Could listen to her forever
That mobile hanging from the middle of the Atlantic ocean looks like it has the problem where the baby just sees four elephant feet, not an elephant.
My “third world” country has paid parental leave for both parents
Which country?
Could you consider in the future doing videos on the history of childcare in America? And what about the possibility of doing a video on the history of welfare programs such as food stamps and cash assistance and etcetera?
It’s all about society
Not only do they have paid maternity leave here in Australia but the government used to pay mothers $7500 per child, then it dropped to $5000, before the right wingers got voted in and abolished it altogether in 2015
Stop your bullcrap..
right wing in Australia is differrnt then in america..
William Thompson so what? Blow it out of your arse mate
@@MedusasSnakePit its, "blow it out your ass"
not out of your ass.. Get your lingo straight bro... You're lame..
New York does
Um it does. 5 months paternity for my employer. 12 weeks for state for bonding and 16 weeks pregnancy liability!
I am 63 and have four kids back in the 90s and very early 2000s and never couldhave dreamed of even a month off. I took vacation days if I wanted time off .it worked that way most people back then. That’s why I always say that I was born and wrong generation. This is just one example of many.
I’m 36 weeks pregnant and I’m getting 6 weeks unpaid L M A O
They do now
That Outfit Tho! Those colors look amazing on you.
Because.
The only countries which don't have statutory maternity leave are the USA..........and Papua New Guinea and Oman. Shameful.
They still fire you for getting pregnant. They find other reasons. They know you can't afford to fight them.
I have paid fam leave in ny🤔
The WHO actually recommends 6 months of EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding. Meaning nothing but breast milk until 6 months. They recommend breast milk until 2 years or older. Basically extended in America.
Watch for the facts, stay for the puns.
Because it's a third world country, we should do a concert of something to help out
The US only cares about profit, not about your benefit
Babies in the USA are expensive because the USA pays retail for the birthing babies.
It might benefit POC
Join team trees! Or maybe just plant some of your own.
SHN
Other nations resolved this issue decades ago. It’s laughable and sad that the USA still struggles with it.
I love your canon metaphor, but i disagree as to the origin of the term, simply because of how common it is to see those in that cohort go, at the slightest prick to their egos, “BOOM!”, and turn into babies.
So punish women basically really?
Big Business isn’t pro family
Oh America.....;/
I had my first child 30 years ago. I went to this org call Planned Parenthood and I planned on being a parent. Having a child isn't like when my folks were having kids. That type of planning was called condoms or I have a headache. Having a child is a choice and one you plan for. While working for a university, I had to cover for our department head's assistant. In the 8 years she worked for the university, she reduced her time to finish school, get married, had a baby (3 months), went a church mission (2 months) , had another baby (3 months), went on another mission (2 months) and then had baby number three (3 months) . This is not counting the vacations and sick leave we have. She was gone 30 months total time her employer is paying someone else do her job or assigning the work to someone else to do her job. Now think if this were a small employer. We need a national healthcare first in this country that is affordable to everyone who wants or needs it. FMLA should be in place for spouces or individuals in committed relationships if there is a medical need for them to be off. I don't think employers or the government should be on the hook for "warm fuzzy bonding time" for life choices.
So if the US doesn't let new parents take time off to have and then take care of a kid and ALSO doesn't want immigrants...then how is the US supposed to maintain population size enough to still have a 'superpower' country (since US seems to care about that so much)
Hahaha she made a funny.
America isn’t great to live in for the majority of people.
What do y'all think of pawternity? Taking a week off if you adopt or purchase an animal to let it adjust to a new home.
Hmmm I'm not sure on this one, but then again I've never owned a pet. I'll leave this one up to the group? Perhaps folks with pets are better able to answer this question
To me it sounds like another incentive a company uses to get more candidates for employment. I understand that if an animal has been abused by a previous owner it will have a difficult time to readjust in a new environment if it feels unloved. But for a mentally healthy animal it will readjust just fine without a person being there for a week or so.
It's a strain on a company to pay someone while they're out for an extended period. Illness isn't voluntary, while reproduction is, and depending on the industry, they may not only be paying partial or full leave wages, they may also have to hire and pay for a temp to fill their position--and if they don't hire a temp, it places additional strain on their coworkers while they pick up the slack. I work in a job where when we have a pregnant coworker, we "lose" them even while they're still working because the pregnancy makes it too dangerous for them to fully participate in the job, so we lose the pregnant employee about a year and cannot simply replace them. We're required to leave their position available and shoulder additional danger ourselves. It's FRUSTRATING and has lead to an increase in on-the-job injuries, incurring additional costs for the business for workman's comp and further strain on other employees, rinse and repeat.
The one thing she didn't mention that she should have is that in other countries the employer is not on the hook to pay parents while on leave, the government is. It's basically the same as unemployment benefits are in the US, you get money from the government based on how much you were making prior. But of course we're severely adverse to paying taxes to pay for such a system so we try to push it off onto employers and they push it right back.
I would love to see you do an "origin of child support/ origin of Title VD"
...and how it is unconstitutional, biased, illegal, and far from being "in the best interest of the child".
I tell u why I think maternity leave won't be paid now because that would mean more baby's born less abortion.
2:23 Soviet Union after ww1
Because babies are so gross not even parents want to see them!
I believe in paid or unpaid parental leave but my laissez faire capitalist forbids me from calling for the government mandating parental leave for private institutions.
@3:11 mock shooting you for forced punishment.
We do have it, my employer gives us that. Oh, you want to know why our government doesn’t mandate it? That’s not the role of government.
It does It was passed and signed into law in 1994 by Bill Clinton