Maternity Leave - what should it be?

mimivan

Sun, Sep 23 2007, 11:27 pm

gold21 wrote:

assuming that your reference to my use of the world "barbaric" is not sarcastic/condescending...I would have to say that the issue is what is expected of women. if you should CHOOSE to go back to work, great, have a party. but you shouldnt be EXPECTED to go back to work after such a short length of time. so if you so desire, work at home, but if you should not feel up to it, society should not demand that you start working at that point. there should be leeway for those many women who dont feel up to it...

no, it isn't...I didn't remember where the word was first used, but it was creeping into discussions on this thread...nothing personal intended...

shalhevet

Mon, Sep 24 2007, 3:13 am

Motek wrote:

shalhevet wrote:

You Americans just don't get it, because your country is so capitalist you have been brought up to believe that all these things are impossible, and so you can't imagine anything else, as is done in all other progressive countries.

Yeah, we stupid capitalists ... socialism is obviously the best form of government! Rolling Eyes

It is obvious the only form of government that is best:
ותמלוך אתה ד' לבדך על כל מעשיך

But until then I meant that on this issue, the USA seems to have managed to brainwash its citizens that something taken as a given in modern, progressive countries is impossible.

Pickle Lady

Mon, Sep 24 2007, 10:05 am

I think maternity leave should be atleast 3 months and then part time for a few months after that. It really sad that the US has the worset maternity leave policy of any progressive country and high juvenile crimes. I wonder if they are connected.

gold21

Mon, Sep 24 2007, 10:50 am

So...how do we make changes happen?...is it possible to make changes happen?...to have the gvmt garauntee lets say a 3 and a half month maternity leave fully paid?....thats how many weeks?...15 weeks? yeah a 15 week leave. seriously.

Ruchel

Mon, Sep 24 2007, 11:18 am

Pickle Lady wrote:

I think maternity leave should be atleast 3 months and then part time for a few months after that.

I would agree with you, but I don't want to offend you.

Pickle Lady

Mon, Sep 24 2007, 11:34 am

Ruchel wrote:

Pickle Lady wrote:

I think maternity leave should be atleast 3 months and then part time for a few months after that.

I would agree with you, but I don't want to offend you.

why would that offend me? I like to see that people agree with me.

There are many US policies that give moneyy to US people for many reasons Social security, unemployment and medicare/medicaid. Then why can't we have money for women for maternity leave. If all those programs are paid from tax dollars then that should be too. I think the program is that we are a mostly capitalistic country but that women's lib didn't ask for this too.

The US is not completely capitalist because we do have many programs that are also a bit socialist too as I mentioned above.

BinahYeteirah

Wed, Oct 10 2007, 1:17 am

I saw this link on another board and found it relevant, so I thought I'd post it here.

Apparently, the US is one of only FOUR countries in the entire world that does not mandate any paid maternity leave. That's right, the US along with Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland are the only countries without paid maternity leave! Some employees in the US do get partial pay through disability, but considering 98 out of 174 countries offer at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, that's just PATHETIC!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10.....login

Ruchel

Wed, Oct 10 2007, 8:59 am

BinahYeteirah wrote:

the US along with Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland

Indeed pathetic. The richest country with 3 of the poorest?? oy vey.

melalyse

Wed, Oct 10 2007, 9:36 pm

1- I went back to work 2.5 days a week when my DS was 10 weeks. I was dying to go back part time already and have so adult interaction. Maybe I would feel differently if I was going back full time.

2- People tend to forget that countries in which there is 52 weeks paid maternity leave, free govt insurance etc..... also pay about 70% of salary to taxes. It's the same money.

mimsy7420

Thu, Oct 11 2007, 9:45 am

melalyse wrote:

70%? I think not.

shalhevet

Thu, Oct 11 2007, 11:02 am

only1 wrote:

melalyse wrote:

70%? I think not.

Nor do I. Do you have an example melalyse? I don't think it's about taking more taxes but rather about distributing them differently, according to a particular country's order of priorities.

melalyse

Thu, Oct 11 2007, 9:51 pm

When I was on vacation in Denmark we were speaking to people who live there. They were telling us all of these wonderful things - 1 yr maternity leave for a mother 2 months for father. College is free. Health care is free. etc. But they they said that taxes were about 70% of salary. Maybe it is different in other countries but this is what these people told us.

amother

Mon, Nov 12 2007, 12:32 am

Hi,

I'm from Canada. We have mat leave for 1 year. The govt pays a max of about 50% of your salary to a maximum of $40,000 year. Some organizations will top of that amount, for instance if you work in a hospital setting they will top you off to %95 for 6 months. It's great, one of the nice things about living here.