Maternity leave and the family values hypocrisy

[Bill McBlueState]

My wife and I are expecting in May, so this issue has suddenly become more personal for us. The US is one of just a handful of countries in the world with no national policy granting women paid maternity leave. Here's the list:

Lesotho
Swaziland
Mongolia
Papua New Guinea
New Zealand
Australia
United States

Those of us who pay attention are used to the US being grouped with a less-than-stellar bunch of nations on various issues. Countries that still allow the death penalty, for instance. Or countries where a lot of people reject evolution.

But the maternity leave issue is particularly ironic. For 24 of the last 26 years, we've had a Republican in the White House, a Republican-controlled Congress, or both. And these Republicans have made their careers as the supposed champions of family values. What could be more pro-family than allowing young couples with children to continue building their finances as they begin raising children? Financially stable parents are more likely to raise healthy, stable children.

Despite the near-total lock on power the supposed family values crowd has had for the past quarter century, when did we get the only federal family leave policy we have? In 1993, one of the two years when Democrats ran the two elected branches. Twelve weeks of unpaid leave is a good start, but still leaves us inadequate compared to other strong nations.

When are we going to catch up to the rest of the world and value new families? Not when the family values crowd is in charge, that's apparent.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. .

:thumbsup:

I was fortunate to be able to stay home with my babies, but it sure would have been nice to have a little fatter checkbook at the time.

You are probably going to get flamed, however, by those who don't feel that their taxes should support your lifestyle.

I believe that we have a responsibility to all children, not just those we bear, so I totally agree with you.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

2. I hear ya!

I happen to make more money than my husband and I shudder to think what would happen if I got pregnant and had to take a leave, which is a big reason why I am not pregnant, nor am I planning to be anytime soon. At the same time, I am nearly 35 and my biological clock is ticking, but in the end I do not want to end up in abject poverty just so I can reproduce.

Being Italian, I find it illogical that this country does not have an advanced maternity leave policy in place. Sure, you get time off and work protection, but only if you work for large employers and if you've been working there at least 12 months which, in light of the current economic conditions, is not as easy as it used to be. And, regardless, you still lose out on your income.

[DixieBlue]

10. I ended up using all my vacation/sick days to take two months

off after my baby. Then my husband stayed home with her and I went back to work.

I would've loved to have been able to spend my baby time with her. We are totally backwards when it comes to maternity leave.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Your wife is supposed to stay at home

The only reason women work now is so husbands can buy expensive "toys" like boats and big screen TVs. Don't you listen to the Patriots on American Family Radio?

On the other hand, I'm a flaming liberal and believe in your premise by at least 100%.

[treestar]

4. It is fascinating when you look at the laws,

It shows where the right wing is truly coming from.

They are more concerned with going against the "career woman." They want the wife to stay home to start with, so if he works, they want her to feel the full "penalty" of working, that is, have no time to stay home with the infant without losing her job. They thus make the choice have much bigger stakes, and so they are hoping that the wife will "choose" to lose her job so she can stay home with the infant in the first place, and that six weeks later or whenever she would have gone back to work, she then faces a job search and that inertia will keep her home. If the wife chooses to go back to work, they can immediately condemn her as a hard-as-nails career woman who will go back to work and leave her newborn with strangers (all day care is thus described.)

[Bunny]

6. "Having strangers raise your children."

I hear that all the time from the family values crowd. Idiots.

No, actually, I am the one raising my children. That's right, me. When they were younger and I had to go earn money to meet their needs, they were in the care of a wonderful woman who was a second grandmother to them. She is NOT a stranger!

[treestar]

7. Not to mention that day care providers often are someone you

know - it is true the day care provider is not "raising the child" but even so, they are not always "strangers." They are often grandparents or friends or neighbors. When the kids are in school, they can be in those after-school programs, where they are with their own friends and they know the adult who takes care of them there for years.

[RB TexLa]

9. Very true, the lady that worked for my parents with my brother and I were

young and not so young was not a stranger.



You don't tell strangers you love them.

You don't go to strangers homes and drive them to church or the store when it's raining just because you don't want them to get wet.

You don't smile and fall asleep as a small child because you see a stranger looking in the bedroom to check on you.

You don't help pay for the funeral of a stranger.

You don't speak at and get emotional at the funeral of a stranger.





This post in loving memory of Eula Mae Dealy, one of the greatest women to ever walk this Earth.

[lukasahero]

5. You are evaluating their hypocrisy based on your definition of family values

"What could be more pro-family than allowing young couples with children to continue building their finances as they begin raising children?"

To them, "pro-family" simply means women should stay home with the children. According to them, if women weren't in the workforce, men would earn more and be better able to support their families better. "Family values" to them means one man who is the ruler of his wife and children.

[Dulcinea]

8. This shows you who's REALLY in charge.

"Family values" is nothing but lip service to the fundie crowd.

Corporate America feels that generous maternity leave affects their bottom line. Women, or men, who want time off to care for a newborn cost their employers money, time & productivity. And that affects their stock price. And that's all that matters to them.

The company I work for had a great maternity leave policy when I was expecting my first child: 2 weeks of disability prior to my due date, paid maternity leave & FMLA. Well, 2 years later when my second was born, the new policy was that I worked all the way up to the day before she was born (a week early)& I was to come right back as soon as maternity leave was up. The paperwork was a nightmare, because they outsourced it to another company instead of handling it internally! What happens if there are complications, or a problem pregnancy? The attitude was that I was inconveniencing them by having a child. (I did take as much FMLA as I could!)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. Hypocrisy at its finest/worst

This issue hit home for my wife and I recently too with the birth of our newborn daughter. The disconnect between what the so-called "family values" people strongly advocate for/against and things that REALLY matter to families is frequently GLARING. The issues that they tend to focus on (i.e. gay rights, abortion rights)just don't seem to be quite as important to my family (and probably not to too many other families) as issues like ensuring a living wage for all families, access to affordable childcare and healthcare coverage, and the ability for families to spend quality bonding time with newborn children without going BANKRUPT in the process. My wife and I are both state employees, which meant NO paid maternity leave and 4 weeks of short-term disability pay@60% for her (plus my pay which isn't much) to live on for three whole months. Frankly, without the generosity of my dad and her dad there is really NO way that we could have managed to financially get through the past 2-3 months and we are actually STILL skating on thin ice until my wife gets paid again and/or we get our tax refund. The fact that the so-called "family values" crowd seem more concerned with things like gay people possibly being allowed to marry other gay people, preventing/denying access to abortion (but REFUSING to support any kind of comprehensive sex education that discusses the FULL range of contraceptive options), and now even trying to prevent ADULT women from obtaining LEGALLY PRESCRIBED contraceptive pills, seems to underscore my perception that their "pro-family" agenda is really more about imposing their own religious/political/social beliefs on everybody else rather than genuinely supporting "pro-family values" initiatives that REALLY help/support/encourage healthier families and, having been in the majority for the past 12 years, there is really no excuse as to why they have repeatedly squandered opportunities to demonstrate their (supposed) concern for issues that DIRECTLY impact the quality of life for children and families living here.