Inadvertently, I negotiated for paid maternity leave at the community shop. I was asked several times when I would be able to start, and I consistently answered I could not leave my job with paid maternity leave and health insurance while I was planning to get pregnant, so I did not know when I could start. This resulted in a contract offer with an increased signing bonus and six weeks of paid maternity leave.

Leave Policy in the United States

Did you know that the United States is one of only six countries out of 193 in the United Nations that do not mandate paid maternity leave? We are in the company of Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and a few South Pacific islands.¹ Unfortunately, only 12 percent of US workers in the private sector can get paid leave through their employers.² Currently, women are the primary breadwinners in 40 percent of US households with children.³ As a result, 23 percent of surveyed women in 2012 reported taking two weeks or fewer off because they could not afford to take more time.²

After World War II, with the devastation of the European workforce and infrastructure, United Nations representatives agreed to a minimum of 14 weeks of paid leave at two-thirds of a worker’s salary. Now, 50 countries provide six months or more of paid leave.⁵ Most countries are financing paid leave through employment-related social insurance, similar to Social Security or unemployment, but others require the employer to pay the benefit.⁶

In 1993, the United States implemented FMLA, which provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave if you have worked more than 1,250 hours (one year full-time) at a company with at least 50 employees. Forty percent of American workers do not meet these requirements.⁷

Some states and cities have taken matters into their own hands. California’s Paid Family Leave program provides six weeks of leave at 55 percent of a worker’s wage if the worker is eligible for disability.⁸ San Francisco has mandated that employers pay the remaining 45 percent of an employee’s salary capped at 67 percent of the statewide average weekly wage. New Jersey and Rhode Island have similar programs offering partial paid leave for six weeks.

Paid maternity leave is linked to better health for mothers and babies. A 2014 study showed that women who received 12 weeks or more of paid maternity leave had lower rates of postpartum depression.⁹ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that women with 12 weeks of paid leave are more likely to breastfeed for six months.¹⁰ Paid maternity leave is also linked to a lower infant mortality rate.¹¹