When I was pregnant with Pooky, I was a lurker on various online pregnancy message boards. I remember the topic of maternity leave popping up a few times on these boards, and I remember women from Canada and the U.K. posting about the amount of maternity leave and benefits they receive in their countries. I knew the U.S. was definitely not family-friendly when it came to maternity and paternity leave, but after reading some of those posts, I was shocked that other countries have it a lot better.
Here’s how the U.S. compares. Percentages represent the percentage of the person’s wages paid, if any.
| Country | Maternity Leave | Paternity Leave |
| United States | 12 weeks unpaid | 12 weeks unpaid |
| Canada | 50 weeks paid at 55% up to $413/week (15 weeks maternity + 35 weeks parental leave shared with father) | 35 weeks paid at 55% up to $413/week (shared with mother) |
| United Kingdom | 6 weeks paid at 90%, 20 weeks paid at a fixed amount, 26 weeks unpaid, 13 weeks add’l unpaid w/1+ yr employment and child under 6 | 2 weeks paid at a fixed amount, 13 weeks add’l unpaid w/1+ yr employment and child under 6 |
| Sweden | 480 days (16 months) (paid at 80% up to a ceiling the first 390 days, 90 days at fixed amount) - shared with father (minimum 60 days) | 480 days (16 months) (paid at 80% up to a ceiling the first 390 days, 90 days at fixed amount) - shared with father (minimum 60 days) |
| Norway | 12 months paid at 80% or 10 months paid at 100% - mother must take first 6 weeks after birth - the rest can be shared with the father | 10.5 months paid at 80% or 8.5 months paid at 100% - shared with mother - father must take a minimum of 4 weeks |
(source: Wikipedia)
What’s up with this?! Hmm, Canada isn’t too far away.
You can find info for a whole lot of other countries at this Wikipedia entry.
on Nov 20th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I am actually going to rant about this on working moms this week. I went back to work when my son was 8 weeks old. EIGHT WEEKS. It was way too soon and it ripped my heart out. I was barely recovered from my c-section.
The maternity leave in the USA is insulting.
It should also be noted that the stats you cite are government paid maternity leaves, many companies in the UK and Canada (and those are the only two countries where I have had actual conversations with other working moms to confirm) top up the paid leave allowed by government to make it 80-100% of their regular pay.
What do we do? How do we fight? I dont have those answers. I wish I did and I wish things would change.
on Nov 20th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Unfortunately, I don’t see this changing any time soon. A past article in USA Today points out that “out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.”
I think part of the issue is the mentality in the U.S. that “we live to work” instead of “working to live.” Thus, we have terrible maternity leave policies and just as bad vacation policies. Family and leisure really isn’t prioritized the way it should.
on Nov 26th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
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