So I have a question for you Americans...it's about maternity leave.
In Canada any employee who has accrued 600 hours of work time is guaranteed a year's maternity leave to a maximum of around $430 a week (so around $1700 a month). How much you get is based on your pay for the 600 hours before you take the leave. The maximum amount works out to about 55% of a 40k annual salary. Some private sector jobs top up that amount to 100%, others don't. In teaching we are topped for 8 weeks, then we drop down to the $430 a week.
Technically the leave has two parts: a pregnancy leave (accessible only by a mother who actually gives birth to a baby 17 weeks long) and a parenting leave (accessible to both mother and father, of any child who is born or adopted to a max of 35 weeks).
Okay, so this is what we get, by law. Our taxes pay for this. We pay A LOT of income tax in comparison to the US. Mostly these taxes pay for things like this and our Universal Health Care. From what little I know of the states, in a lot of circumstances women get a lot less.
So I guess my question is: how do you feel about that?
Here is my answer: I can't imagine not taking the year to be with my baby (if I ever have one) and yet it is already going to be tough to take the reduction in our combined salary for a year. We have already discussed that if we have children, Graham will take 4 - 6 months of the leave because I make a lot more money than him but the $430 would be the same regardless of who takes the leave (because we both make more than $40k, so we both get the max). I can't imagine having a baby and going back to work 6 weeks later.
sorry so long. and also posting and running. I will be back...*said with German accent*