Essay On Paid Parental Leave

In the past, maternal leave has had a troubled history in legislation. Women have had to fight multiple times in court to access time off for childcare. In the United States where the consensus is that working hard equates to your dreams coming true, significant time off work seems retrograde in obtaining one’s goals. Throughout history as more women entered the workforce, a divide formed between business and motherhood. In today’s society, maternal leave is a term left behind for a more encompassing one, parental leave. The term parental leave includes both fathers and mothers requesting time off for parenting. While our country has worked on providing accessible parental leave, nearly all of the other first world countries outmatch the United …show more content…
As with other family leave laws, numerous developed countries have extended laws regarding paternity leave. Of the one hundred and sixty-nine countries that offer some form of paid parental leave, only sixty-six of them had specific laws given paid paternity leave as well. Paid paternity leave varies quite a bit in terms of length, paid amount, and extent used from country to country. The leading country based on all three of these elements is Sweden. Sweden only offers paid paternity leave for ten days, but it is common for Swedish fathers to use parental leave that is given for both parents Government agencies in Sweden worked hard to create a society that promotes gender equality in the workforce. These are the leading reasons that close to 90% of Swedish fathers use their paternity leave. Although there are various countries that offer substantial benefits for new fathers, not all countries are as progressive. Much like laws within the United States, Japan has no formal paternity law. In addition, Japanese fathers are less likely to take any of the parental leave. Whether or not the differences between countries like Japan and Sweden is because of a lack of societal need or legislature remains to be