Maternity leave supports the wellbeing of both new mothers and their children, while offering the career-focused an incentive to embrace parenthood without sacrificing professional aspirations.
The U.S. is unique among wealthy states in failing to guarantee paid maternity leave for new mothers, though there is a great deal of state-to-state variance when it comes to postnatal time off.
Analysing official figures compiled by World Population Review, Newsweek created a map that lays bare the disparate nature of maternity policies across the United States.
Only 11 states currently offer paid maternity leave, most of these concentrated on the East Coast.
However, even among these, benefits vary.
According to the state's Employment and Development Department, Californians are entitled to up to eight weeks of partial wage replacement to bond with a new child, and this paid family leave is fully funded by employees.
In Oregon, employees may take up to 12 weeks paid leave and receive 100% of their weekly wages equal to or less than 65% of the state average, according to the Center for American Progress. All wages above this threshold are deducted 50%.
According to a 2021 report by The Century Foundation, Oregon received the highest rating for its family care policies.
The remainder of the states guarantee unpaid leave to take care of a newborn, or no leave at all.
While some employers may offer paid maternity leave as a benefit, there is no state mandate to do so.
Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow at the think tank New America, and a paid leave policy expert, spoke to Newsweek about the unique state of parental support in the U.S.
According to Shabo, of the 38 OECD states, The U.S. is the only country that "that fails to guarantee paid maternity leave to new mothers and one of a handful that does not guarantee paid parental leave to new fathers."
When asked why the U.S. was so unique in its family care practices, Shabo said this was due to the country's "very individualistic, pull-yourself-up-by-your bootstraps mentality," which is compounded by "business lobby efforts to stop government regulation and keep taxes low."
"All of this has stymied federal paid family and medical leave policy efforts," Shabo added.
While certain employees may be entitled to up to 12-week of unpaid leave under the 1993 U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act, Shabo said that this only covered those who work for an employer with over 50 employees in a 75-mile radius, and who meet "both tenure and hours-worked requirements."
"Just 56% of U.S. workers are eligible for these job protections," Shabo said. "Some states offer greater protections, both for unpaid leave and paid leave, but tens of millions of workers are without any protections at all."
When asked why there was so much disparity between the states, Shabo suggested that "state political landscapes" played a central role, and highlighted a correlation between maternity leave and reproductive rights.
"Notably, not a single state that has banned or substantially restricted abortion provides a paid parental leave guarantee and many actively restrict localities within their states from offering paid leave," Shabo said. "Whereas many of the states that have protected the right to abortion also offer paid leave and other supports to facilitate families' economic security and health."
However, Shabo said that calls for change are growing louder, and that "a broad and large coalition has been working with members of Congress since 2013 to pass the FAMILY Act (Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act)."
This would create a national paid family and medical leave program, "guaranteeing workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave each year to care for a new child, a seriously ill or injured loved one, a workers' own serious health issue and care for a military service member."
Shabo noted that Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for the November election, has long supported the FAMILY Act and, in her 2020 presidential campaign, proposed a plan for six-months of government-paid family and medical leave.
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