I think until maternity and paternity leave are treated similarly companies will discriminate against young women of childbearing age.
One Year's Maternity Leave
- Thread starter Prada's Meadow
- Start date
in my country:
- away from job max 3 years, and your workplace will be waiting for you
- 1 year out of that is full salary (but not more that xx amount to avoid speculations)
- this 1 year can be divided by mother&father as they like, and both can get this above/mentioned compensation
and people say the laws in Estonia are bad!!
- away from job max 3 years, and your workplace will be waiting for you
- 1 year out of that is full salary (but not more that xx amount to avoid speculations)
- this 1 year can be divided by mother&father as they like, and both can get this above/mentioned compensation
and people say the laws in Estonia are bad!!
I think it's a good idea, it gives moms a choice and they don't feel pressured leaving their babies to go back to work. But for small to medium-sized companies it could become a rather challenging situation because even though they don't have to pay the full-year they have to keep the job open for the mom, in the meantime they need to go hire another person to do the job, up to a full-year. What are they going to do with the person that was 'filling in' for a year when the mom returns? Some positions are easier to fill with a temp than others.
I think perhaps 6 months is more managable than a whole year. I don't like what the law allows us to have here in the US either. Earned benefits (you have to work at a company for a minimum period of time) like 3 months of full pay and another 3 months of partial pay, with the option of returning at the end of 6 months and a one-month notice would be really nice. My company provides short-term disability benefits so if I ever manage to get pregnant and have a baby I will be sure to use that.
I think perhaps 6 months is more managable than a whole year. I don't like what the law allows us to have here in the US either. Earned benefits (you have to work at a company for a minimum period of time) like 3 months of full pay and another 3 months of partial pay, with the option of returning at the end of 6 months and a one-month notice would be really nice. My company provides short-term disability benefits so if I ever manage to get pregnant and have a baby I will be sure to use that.
In Canada you get 1 year maternity and/or parental leave. The government pays you a certain percentage. I was off in 2003-2004 with my older daughter and 2005-2006 with my younger daughter. I just went back to work in July. I loved the time off to spend with my kids and bond with them. But unfortunately, you really have to keep a tight budget on where your money is going, especially when your not making as much money as you are when your working.
as others have said, it's a year in canada and i think it's amazing. i work for the government, so the year off is almost 95% paid as well, which some employers offer - they top up the percentage paid by the government. this makes a big difference for me b/c i'll be able to afford to take the time off when i do decide to have kids. and my job is also guaranteed which is nice, something else not to have to worry about.
It would be nice to have that, but I really don't know how feasible that would be in certain environments. Especially if a woman is in high powered field where keeping up is part of the process. There's pressure not to take too time out. Bottom line people can make their own choices, but may have to deal with possible consequences. It's too bad but a reality in a lot of work environments. There was an interesting article in the NY Times magazine called the "opt-out revolution" that sort of touches on this from a few years ago.
The Opt-Out Revolution
The Opt-Out Revolution
They have it so good in UK. My friend in UK is pregnant at the moment and said that she'll get paid leave for one year. Unfotunately, Australia you only get up to 3months paid maternity leave. But at least we do have a baby bonus incentive of $4000 for one baby. It goes up $1000 each year.
We have a quite similar system and most finnish women take some time off after having their children. Maybe it's different if you want to have a great career, but since most women here seem to be happy to concentrate most of their energy to their families or free-time I would say that it works out fine. After the maternity leave most mothers also take a child care leave which is unpaid (although finnish social insurance institute will pay benefits to mother/father who will stay at home). You can stay in a child care leave until your youngest child is three. It's quite normal to have your child, take a year or two off to take care of him/her and then return to work.
In a way it does affect getting a job when you're young woman like me and in job interviews I do often get asked if I plan to get kids soon (eventhough it's illegal to ask), but there's nothing I can do about it. There are discussions about sharing the expenses the pregnancy causes to mother's employer with father's employer, longer paternity leaves etc. which will hopefully make employers just as wary of hiring young men as women..
In a way it does affect getting a job when you're young woman like me and in job interviews I do often get asked if I plan to get kids soon (eventhough it's illegal to ask), but there's nothing I can do about it. There are discussions about sharing the expenses the pregnancy causes to mother's employer with father's employer, longer paternity leaves etc. which will hopefully make employers just as wary of hiring young men as women..