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Why the USA Should Have Paid Maternity Leaves

Maternal leave is a period given to a female employee by the institution she works in so

that she can be able to take care of the infant children. Maternal leave starts from the time one

gives birth to taking care of the child and the period one is given depends on the policies of the

institution she works in. Maternity leave can be paid or unpaid, and this also depends on the

policies of the organizations. For several years, women have forgotten childbearing, and the

happiness of their families and have put all their efforts in making money and ensuring excel in

the institution they work in. It is the time that women should remember that they have a life to

live and that is family lives and that is why maternity should be taken as an important step in

ones leave. The paper is going to discuss the importance of maternity leave and the reasons the

USA should have paid maternity leave.

Maternity leave may seem less important to many people, but in a real sense, it helps

women so much. To start with, research done in Britain proves that it takes a full year for women

to recover from the psychological upheavals of bringing a child into this world. It is evident from

the research that the few weeks women are given during the period are not enough and it also

proves the fact that maternity is paramount for women (Staehelin, Bertea and Stutz 206). The

article further explains the effects of denying women maternity leave on productivity at work.

The production will go down if women are denied maternity leaves. The concentration at work

will be low because their minds will be thinking of the children. Therefore, maternity leave is
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very essential as it enables women to return to their earlier life and can work as required. The

Britain women workforce is very lucky since they are given almost forty weeks leave and at the

same time being paid.

Maternity leave is fundamental not only because of the mothers but also for the children

being brought to the world. There are several reasons why maternal leaves and parental leaves

are imperative both to the parents and the child. Among the reasons are child development,

maternal depression and anxiety, parental involvement, child mortality and lastly breastfeeding.

Firstly, child development is an important thing as the childhood life of a child can affect the

future life. Early employment to mothers within the first year of the infants life contributes to

decrements to child development. The effects become worse when mothers return to jobs and full

time. Breastfeeding also comes here because it helps in child development. Prolonged

breastfeeding is encouraged for the sake of the Childs healthy growth and development.

Maternal depression and anxiety are another importance of parental leave to mothers

(Staehelin, Bertea and Stutz 206). Mothers benefit mostly from maternity leave by being

mentally healthy. Short or no leaves at all associated with depressions and anxiety to mothers.

Maternity leaves offer time for bonding between the mother and the child, and this makes

mothers happier. The mother feels good when her child can recognize her among many people,

and that is what every mother wants. Mothers do not like their children to grow in an

environment where they arent present, and the child does not know their true parents. It is the

longer leaves that help the mother to maintain the health mentally. The factors that always cause

the depression are the fact that mothers are trying to fit in the working environment and at the

same time they have marital concerns in their minds. For this reason, they end up having severe

post-partum depression.
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Also, maternity leave cements the relationship between the mother and the child which is

essential in predicting the long-term outcomes of the child learning disabilities and impulsivity

(Rossin 239). Another research shows that the length of maternity leave affects the infant

mortality rate such that when the period of the leave is longer, the infant mortality is low and

vice versa. When a mother starts nursing the baby and within a short period they are separated,

definitely a babysitter will be hired to take care of the baby. Mother being the only person who

can understand the baby well is away, and a nanny will have a tough time handling the baby.

Occasionally children get sick because they are not handled well, and some can die along the

way after developing serious problems.

U.S is one of the nations that lacks paid maternity leaves, and this fact affects not only

mothers but the families as a whole negatively. Women have proved to be good workers because

of the quality of their work, when compared to that of men, is the same. At the same time women

also want to be mothers and good mothers to their children, and for this reason, women deserve

support from their employers and the nation at large to help them achieve that. Women have

some gaps to fill using their monthly salaries in their families. During the period of maternity

leave which sometimes is even more than six month, they stay unpaid, and that affects their

families. Women become depressed, disturbed and stressed up because they cannot meet some of

their familys needs. Some of the effects of unpaid leaves include loss of jobs, resuming to work

before the maternity period elapses, accruing debts and lastly delayed infant immunization.

To start with, unpaid maternity leaves can lead to women resigning, and that is losing

one's job (Berger and Waldfogel 342). Payment acts as a motivating factor to every employee

women included. When women are denied payment when they are taking maternal leave, there is

a chance that most of them will not turn up in their job places when the period elapses. Most of
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them will consider looking for other organizations where they will have that benefit come to their

next maternity leave. Companies can give so many reasons for not paying their women

employees during the maternity leave. Some will say that it is very expensive and others can set

policies even not to employ women who are in child bearing age or all women. The company

managers fail to calculate the amount of money they will use in recruiting new employees if the

women on leaves fail to return to work.

` Secondly, unpaid maternity leaves can lead to women going back to jobs even before the

period of maternity leave elapses (Staehelin, Bertea and Stutz 206). Here, both mothers and

children are affected negatively in the sense that mothers cannot fully concentrate on their jobs

and the child lacks enough breastfeeding from the mother. Such children are more likely to

become less bright and smarter in schools later in their life. By doing this, the childs life is

ruined completely because he or she will not make a good student and will never achieve

anything good in life. No organization will ever accept that child to work with them because his

or her output will be low and therefore in his life, he will never be able to support oneself

financially.

Thirdly, unpaid maternity leaves also result to the parent having debts. With the hard

economic times, parents find it difficult even to afford their essential needs and going for months

without being paid worsens the situation the most. Parents during this period have to borrow

money from people which they will have to return when they raise money. Sometimes, they will

even have to call for public assistance something that is very embarrassing for someone who is

used to depending on their salaries. Such a situation will lead to a cruel post-partum depression

which will need medical attention.

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Unpaid maternity leaves also are said to have contributed to delayed and reduced rates of

infants immunizations as well as health visits for the babies. When one is disturbed with the

issue of money, it becomes so difficult to remember the dates for visiting clinics. Money runs the

world because without it, one cannot survive and because of this, when ones mind is clouded

with the issue of money, most of the times, one gets confused and stressed up and ends up

forgetting very crucial things in life like the life of the child. Delayed immunizations will bring

problems to the health of the child and without the health visits for the babies, it becomes a big

problem. Health visits for the children help in identifying any health issue within the child, and

the solution can be determined as well. Without this, there will be increased infant mortality rates

(Rossin 239).

In conclusion, the U.S nation should consider having paid parental leaves not only for the

good of the parents and their children but the sake of its economy too. The economy of the

country depends so much on the workforce of the women and men, and if these persons are not

motivated to continue with their jobs, there will be low productivity in the organizations. Also,

the nation will learn to appreciate the efforts of its people who work so hard to see it succeed by

allowing paid leaves.

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Annotated Bibliography

Maternity Leave and The Employment Of New Mothers In The United States.Journal of

Population Economics, Berger, and Waldfogel, 17.2 (2004): 331-349

The author of this article used a longitudinal survey data collected by youth to help

examine the relationship that existed between the maternity leave coverage and the employment

decisions. It was found that the women resume to their jobs immediately after the period of

twelve weeks which were given for the leave. The reason behind this act was that the unpaid

leaves affected the life patterns of the families and they went through a lot during the maternity

leave period because there were no salaries.

The Effects Of Maternity Leave on Children's Birth And Infant Health Outcomes In The

United States Journal of Health Economics, Rossin Maya,30.2 (2011): 221-239.

The article is a report of the president on how the economic performance has changed over time.

The writer wanted to bring to sense that the period where men were the only people who were

believed to be the ones offering services in economic sectors are over and women can also do as

men. In the present time, the economy is even better than those old times because production is

now increased with the help of women. Women are then affected when they go to leaves because

they are unpaid and during this period they find it difficult to meet their needs like health needs

for the babies.

Length Of Maternity Leave And Health Of Mother And Child A Review. International

Journal of Public Health, Staehelin, Katharina, Paola Coda Bertea, and Elisabeth Zemp

Stutz, 52.4 (2007): 202-209.

The article aims at finding a way of balancing the competing needs of work and the family life,

especially with children. Policies are set to assist parents with young children in a way that they
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will be both comfortable. One way figured out is sending working women on maternity leaves.

During that period, women will have time with their children and see them grow even though it

is for a short period.

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Work cited

Berger, Lawrence M., and Jane Waldfogel. "Maternity Leave and The Employment Of New
Mothers In The United States."Journal of Population Economics 17.2 (2004): 331-349.
Web.
http://econpapers.repec.org/article/sprjopoec/v_3a17_3ay_3a2004_3ai_3a2_3ap_3a331-
349.htm

Rossin, Maya. "The Effects Of Maternity Leave on Children's Birth And Infant Health Outcomes
In The United States."Journal of Health Economics 30.2 (2011): 221-239. Web.
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1672325/cea-economic-report-of-president-
2015.txt

Staehelin, Katharina, Paola Coda Bertea, and Elisabeth Zemp Stutz. "Length Of Maternity Leave
And Health Of Mother And Child A Review."International Journal of Public Health
52.4 (2007): 202-209. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202345/