Week #5 MomsRising

I was happy to see there is the grassroots movement called MomsRising! Their mission, which is dedicated to changing government and institutional policies that make it difficult or impossible for parents to simultaneously engage in paid labor and care responsibly for children, is so necessary in this country. I feel this is the plight of millions of Americans—men and women! While I worked for a global corporation, I knew many women who were raising families while working. In fact, some of them were pregnant while I worked with them and went out on maternity leave. What I quickly learned, was that Americans have the worst maternity plan in the world—unless you work for a company with a paid maternity leave (and I don’t mean the measly 6 weeks of disability some of us get)—there isn’t one! Since I was in sales, I got paid a salary (40% of compensation) and a commission (60% of comp.) Well, disability is based on your salary, not on total compensation—so I got hosed! But the really disturbing part is when you compare us to other countries. For instance, 6 weeks after the birth of Kai I was expected back at work. In Canada, my co-worker would be off for 12 months with her new baby boy and would collect a “state” check. When she returned, she would have the same exact job, title, and pay (including any retroactive raises) as when she left. My neighbor moved to France and married a Frenchman there. They are now expecting their first child in July. Her company contracts with their pregnant employees to provide them a 2 year maternity/paternity leave with 2/3 salary paid to them for the duration of their leave. Many folks come back to work before their 2 years is up, work for a while, then get pregnant again and go back out for another 2 years. OK, so Canada and France have their issues and tax problems, but so do we. And don’t even get me started on Sweden. Neighbors of mine had both of their children their and it cost them $50 each. The gov’t provided formula, diapers, medical service and day-care so they could go back to work (they chose to do so when the boys were 2 & 4 yrs old, respectively.) There are probably many other examples of this elsewhere in the world. But it saddens me that we Americans—the richest country in the world (I think)—have to choose between our children and work. Hopefully MomsRising can help make changes that will allow us to provide for our families without making drastic choices. We don’t have to have years of state-paid leave…but allowing us to keep our jobs and maintain a level of income that adequately supports our families while enjoying their childhoods would be so much more rewarding.