It’s shameful that the US has the distinction of being only one of only a handful countries in the world without paid maternity leave. A 2010 study of 190 countries shows that at least 177 have legal guarantees for paid parental leave, including 101 countries where national law guarantees 14 or more weeks of pay. Just a few countries fail to guarantee paid parental leave under law, including Australia, Swaziland, the United States, and Papua New Guinea. Starting in 2011, Australia will fall out of these ranks by offering 18 weeks of paid parental leave. In the US, it is largely up to employers to decide whether to offer paid parental leave. Just a few states have laws on paid parental leave, and the Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees only unpaid leave. The vast majority of US workers do not have this benefit, and low-income workers are the least likely to have it.
Human Rights Watch is looking for parents to interview about the impact of the lack of paid parental leave in the United States. The interviews will cover a range of topics, including the impact of the lack of paid leave on child health (e.g., getting immunizations, essential health care, and dealing with health problems from pre-term births), establishing or continuing breastfeeding, recovering from childbirth, family finances, and careers. They also hope to talk to LGBT parents about barriers to accessing parental leave offered by private employers. In addition to parents, HRW will also interview health care providers, business and professional associations, employers, and government officials about the benefits and challenges of guaranteeing paid parental leave under law. Interviews will be by phone or in person and last about 30 minutes.
Human Rights Watch will use these stories for a report and related advocacy that will spotlight the stories of individual parents (using only pseudonyms), discuss international legal standards and practices of other countries, and make recommendations for state and federal policy options.
Do you have a personal story to share about the lack of legally guaranteed paid parental leave? Do you work in an organization that could put HRW in touch with parents? Please contact Janet Walsh at walshj@hrw.org if you do, or to offer any feedback on this project.
To learn more about Human Rights Watch, visit www.hrw.org.
Posted with permission from Human Rights Watch for the Fem2.0 Wake Up! This is the Reality blog carnival. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
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