Women have the wonderful ability to bring a new life into this world and are granted maternity leave, a certain amount of time after birth to be away from the labor force. However, maternity leave was not always available to women because of the low levels of employed and educated females. In 1978 changing gender norms and increased female labor involvement influenced the passing of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibiting employment discrimination of women due to pregnancy (Smith, Downs, and O’Connell 3). After this legislation, a higher percentage of women in the United States were not only educated but also employed. In 1987, a critical Supreme Court case (California Federal Savings and Loan Association v. Guerra) in California defined …show more content…
The “family wage gap” is the notion that women with children earn less than women without children (Detcher 97). On average, a woman spends five to six months on maternity leave, time spent out of the workforce after childbirth, which is the main factor contributing to the family wage gap (Detcher 99). Detcher attempts to discover tangible reasons for the gap recognizable after maternity leave such as the depreciation of women’s human capital, decrease in hours they work, and effort they exert. The results conclude that after child birth, the hourly wage decreases by about four percent, the hours women work after maternity leave are seven percent lower than before child birth, and the effort after maternity leave is consistent but is dependent upon the individual (Detcher 99). The length of maternity leave has a direct influence on the family wage gap, revealing a depreciation of post-motherhood …show more content…
In the United States, a third of mothers return to work within three months of childbirth compared to only five percent in other industrialized nations such as Germany, Sweden, and the UK (Berger, Hill, and Waldfogel 29). The rapid return of mothers to the workforce sparked interest in the effects the return has on the child’s behavior and health. The experiments measure the child’s health and development by the amount of time the mother breastfeeds, the immunizations the child receives, their score on a vocabulary test, behavioral problems, and the amount of doctor’s visits (Berger, Hill, and Waldfogel 36). Mothers who returned to work within twelve weeks were less likely to breastfeed their child, provide as many doctor’s visits and immunizations, and there were more noticeable behavioral problems at age four (Berger, Hill, and Waldfogel 39-42). The data is significantly lower for mother’s who work full time within twelve weeks after maternity leave (Berger, Hill, and Waldfogel 43). Therefore, it is proved that the duration of maternity leave is directly correlated with children development and
Harrison, L. J. and Ungerer, J. A., (2002). Maternal Employment and Infant-Mother Attachment Security at 12 Months Postpartum. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 5, 758-773.
In older times, many women had to leave their job due to newly motherhood and having to care for their child, but that number has dropped significantly.
Paid maternity leave can increase female labor force participation by making it easier for women
Parental leave benefits parents, newborns, and older children. By raising healthier, happier families, we will have a healthier, happier society. Before researching, I knew that parental leave was beneficial to mothers, fathers, and babies. I was surprised to find out that it can be beneficial for older children in the home. When I thought about parental leave I never considered the possibility of there being an older child in the home. However, it makes sense that having a parent home and available to the child would be beneficial. I can understand that finding the funding for parental leave could be very difficult. I also understand that it would be frustrating for companies to have to fill in the gap left by a mother or a father on parental leave. Despite these challenges, the proven benefits of parental leave for the family make a more compelling argument. Allowing parents to take off work enables them to fulfill their role as their child’s
Even to this day, women have not reached maximum equality, but the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade has helped the women’s equality movement drastically take a step in the right direction. Prior to the case, women had their rights very limited and restricted. Everyone was and still is entitled to their basic rights, however pregnant women were not. Their first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment rights were violated and were not addressed until Jane Roe testified in court. The decision made by the court still has a lasting impact even to this day. The landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade was not just a win for Jane Roe, but a win for all women as it helped break the barrier that surrounded women’s equality.
Rather, it was added to the law by the opposition in an attempt to prevent the law from gaining the necessary vote to be instated. The little discussion concerning the matter of gender discrimination left courts with very little information to assist them in interpreting the law. (BL 348) Today courts generally “have determined that gender discrimination also includes discrimination due to pregnancy and sexual harassment, but not because of affinity orientation or being transgender.” (pg.348) Given with the passing of time, it is also natural for individuals to imagine just how prevalent gender discrimination is in our society but as stated by EEOC’s chairman in 2009, “sex discrimination against males and females alike continues to be a problem in the 21st century.”(pg. 338 – EEOC press release.) Gender itself plays a prominent role in our lives in the form of stereotypes, customs and ideas which are often discriminatory in nature, whether intentional or not. Of the two genders, women continue to be the most affected by gender discrimination and even as the number of woman in high positions continues to grow, they are still a proportionately large number of filled claims. (pg.338-339). According to a report released by the EEOC in 2010, “gender suits account for the second highest percentage of substantive claims brought under Title VII, behind race.” (#9, EEOC
With no pay and the risk of losing their jobs--if additional time is requested--parents return to work in as little as two weeks after the birth of a child. This results in the absence of one or both parents during the most crucial part of a child’s life—the first year of life. Ultimately, it is the children who will suffer. The events that take place in the early years of a child life, as well as the people that surround, will influence who they become. Children need love and guidance from their parents. Babies can learn so much, parents have the time to teach them and watch them grow. It is their duty as well as their rights as parents to enjoy the first moments of life with their children. Susan J. Douglas says, “The first five years of life are so crucial to cognitive and emotional development” (Douglas Par 8). Parents often send their babies to daycare at too young of an age because they are expected to return to work and have no other choice. Others quit their job because they do not want their babies to go to daycare. This creates a financial strain on families and has lasting effects on the newborn and other young children in the home. Sharon Lerner says, “Paid parental leave frees mothers and fathers from choosing between their careers and time with their infants” (Lerner 20). Paid family leave alleviates a great deal of stress for parents who are expecting. It makes starting a family less frightening because families have enough money and time to adjust with their new lives before returning to work. This makes workers less likely to call out of upon returning and more likely to be focused on the
Kovacic-Fleischer, Candance Saari. “United States v. Virginia’s New Gender Equal Protection Analysis with Ramifications for Pregnancy, Parenting, and Title VII”. Vanderbilt Law Review, Nashville, May 1997, Volume 50, Issue 4, pp. 845-915.
In the United States there are thousand and thousands of women who work. Women in the workforce are vital to the nation's economic security. Since they are vital to the U.S economy the U.S does not want women to be out of work for prolonged periods of time. Although that is the case there are women who have to be out of work due to unexpected or even planned pregnancies. With these pregnancies come trials of how much time they will receive off from work because of their pregnancy. The U.S policies for maternity leave have expanded extremely in the last two decades, but new mothers still tend have shorter periods of job protected leave, and less access to paid leave than women in other advanced industrialized countries. In the U.S every state has maternity leave except for 12 of the 50 states. Those states are California, Connecticut, Main, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The states listed above are only required to have at least some of their private sector employers offer maternity leave coverage prior to the passage the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (Berger & Waldfogel, 2003). Even though the other 38 states offer maternity leave only nine percent of them offer paid leave, but the jobs that offer leave is only for protection of their job not guaranteed pay, for th...
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was an amendment to title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, it is illegal for an employer of 15 or more workers, to discriminate against a person because of pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related conditions. This means that employers must treat pregnancy the same way they treat any other temporary medical disability.
After a birth, when the women go immediately back to work instead of taking leave they can cost $453 more in welfare than someone who took paid leave (The Economics…). “Paid leave promotes a healthier work environment… they had given themselves the proper care that they needed” (The Economics…). When women are able to go home, rest, and be with their baby they feel more ready to go back to work when they’re finished with the time they’ve been given.
In their article “Gender Pay Equity in Advanced Countries: The Role of Parenthood and Policies”, Joya Misra and Ekio Strader discuss the wage gap and the effect that parenthood has on the gap. They address the fact that yes, the wage gap has shrunk, and they provide different reasons for this than most other arguments. Misra and Strader argue
Indeed if women intend to make a difference in the workplace it is their actions that will make the difference. If women demanded better work schedules, daycare centers in the workplace, or daycare compensation or reimbursement they may enable themselves to maintain their careers and still take care of their families more effectively. When parents take into account both of their incomes then one parent not working may be counterproductive and not beneficial for the family (Guest, 2011). Indeed women have the choice of either returning to work after childbirth or staying home with the child or children whichever option is best is for each woman to decide based on her
This legislation would ensure clarity for employers, employees, and courts seeking to understand the rights of pregnant workers. Additionally, employers benefit when their pregnant workers continue in their jobs, not only from employee retention, but improved morale, increased productivity and reduced training costs (“Pregnancy Discrimination”).
For many years women have believed that if they returned to work after having children, their children would be harmed by the lack of a mother’s presence. This belief is no longer true. Studies have shown, “Despite the declining population of young people, the number and proportion of children with working mothers rose steadily during the past decade” (Kamerman 13). In fact, “1979 was the first time more U.S. children lived in families with a mother in the labor force than in families with a mother who was a full-time homemaker” (Kamerman 13). Mothers no longer have to worry; they are free to choose the career path they want to follow. Mothers can make this decision with confidence because experts believe that a mother who works has a positive effect on her children. Children with mothers in the workforce are taught responsibility, independence, the importance of an education, and also social skills that are acquired from day-care.