Paid maternity leave? Who pays? For how long? (lawyers, doctor, employees)
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So how long do think paid leave should be? Keep in mind a lot of woman already earn less for doing the same job a man does.
first of all it isn't a lot of women, a small percentage do earn less, but that has to do with lots of things, like years in the workforce for starters. Most women I know are earning the same as their male counterparts. We can play with these statistics all we want and we can make them agree with what we want them to say or prove.
Nita
Having a baby is a major life event. I think she should get a few months off being paid something...maybe not her whole salary, but at least half. I think there's a thin line between giving too much time and not giving enough. You shouldn't be punished for having a baby, nor should you be ridiculously favored with a paid year off.
My children are in their 30s and 40s, so my childbearing days were pre gov't assisted everything.
Back in the 70s, maternity insurance was NOT an employee benefit. Couples desiring children paid extra for maternity coverage. As a teacher, I was allowed up to 3 years of UNPAID maternity leave - my job was guaranteed upon my return. However, we could not afford the 3 years and I went back two work 7-8 months after each birth.
We do have competing philosophies in this country. We have a strong push for children to be raised by a parent - usually the mother - while at the same time a huge negative knee jerk reaction to the idea of compensating women for doing exactly that.
I worked with a number of women who interrupted their careers to stay home with their young children. Many of them were married to men who made enough money to support their families - the key word being 'were'. These women gave up 10-12 years of income producing, retirement contributing years only to find themselves single moms by the time their children were teenagers.
I advise young women to never give up their careers - for any reason. It is just as important for a woman to prepare for her retirement years as it is for a man and you can't prepare if you're not working.
You bring up a great point. So many people give up so much for the kiddos, that they have nothing for themselves, and if the high earning spouse hits the road, things can get very ugly.
What I am see a lot of is parents who took out second mortgages to pay for the kids college,and not they (the parents) are in the tank.
With parenting, it is a tough call of when intensive commitment is needed, and when to teach the sprout to pull their weight. Obviously, in the first year of life, the balance should be toward the kid.
If you have to ask, you obviously don't value family!
I'm sure I value family much more than you.
If you can't answer the question, you probably don't value family. Being a leech is not a family value.
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