Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article that’s got me gnashing my teeth. Work & Family columnist Sue Shellenbarger reported the disturbing news that on average, over the past decade U.S. businesses have dramatically shortened childbirth leave for new parents:
"Only 16% of employers offer full pay for childbirth leave, down
from 27% in 1998, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,100
employers by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute. The average
maximum length of job-guaranteed leaves for new mothers shrank too, to
15.2 weeks from 16.1 weeks a decade ago; leave for dads fell to 12.6
weeks from 13.1.
Employers aren't deliberately targeting new mothers with pay cuts; rather, maternity leave has been caught in the crossfire over rising disability costs in general. Most maternity-leave pay in the U.S. comes in the form of disability pay, allotted for the six to eight weeks typically needed to heal after childbirth. New mothers are being hit by a cost-cutting move among employers toward paying only a fraction of full pay to workers on short-term disability, rather than 100% as was common in the past, as an incentive for employees to return to work as soon as they're able."
On behalf of pregnant working moms and expectant fathers throughout the United States , my reaction is emotional: I’m furious. Our country’s family leave policies are outdated and unfair – the U.S. government is one of only four that doesn't mandate paid leave for new parents, along with Swaziland, Papau New Guinea, and Liberia . The ten-year maternity leave downsizing trend shows how vulnerable working moms in particular are without government protection.
In my 20 year career, I’ve protested the behavior of several reputable employers, including one who tried to deny a female sales rep a sizable bonus simply because the scheduled payout date fell a few days after her c-section. Subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination against pregnant women and working moms is rampant in the workplace, especially during times of economic slowdown when all employees are more fearful of losing their jobs and healthcare benefits.
In the meantime, I’m experiencing a starkly different personal reaction—gratitude. Read More.
Leslie Morgan Steiner is the author of the best selling anthology: Mommy Wars: Stay at Home and Career Moms Face off on their Choices, their Lives, their Families. She writes the new Mommy Track'd column, Leslie Morgan Steiner's Two Cents on Working Motherhood, the "On Balance" column for the Washington Post and is a regular contributor on the subject of working motherhood to media outlets including The Today Show, MSNBC, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Parents, Parenting, and many others.
