The United States is the only industrialized country with no paid parental leave policy at the national level. It’s been 30 years since the Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) was signed into law, providing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to take time for their own health, to care for a family member, or to spend time with a new child. Over the past two decades, several states, led by California, have adopted paid family leave, but less than a quarter of civilian workers in the US have access to paid leave. Sure, there have been some high profile news stories about companies like Netflix offering generous paid parental leave benefits. But while these policies are pretty common in Fortune 500 companies, most Americans are left to figure it out on their own.

The benefits of parental leave

As I found in my research for Fixing Parental Leave: The Six Month Solution, well designed parental leave policies can promote gender equality. Is parental leave good for parents and children? It sure is. Mothers who can access paid leave are more likely to stay employed, advance in their careers, and maintain earnings. Taking leave also reduces post-childbirth physical illnesses and post-partum depression. And it’s even better when women’s partners take leave because this allows them to spend more time focused on their careers and mental health. Fathers who take leave build caregiving skills and deeper connections with their children and even report greater well-being. It’s probably not surprising that children whose parents take parental leave are healthier, but there’s also improvement in child development and even longer-term educational outcomes, especially when fathers take leave.

Parental leave is also good for business and the broader society. Companies that offer paid parental leave face gains in recruitment and retention and foster a supportive company culture, which increase performance and the bottom line.

As it turns out, well designed parental leave policies are good for the economy as well as working parents.

Parental Leave in Other Countries

The good news about lagging other countries is that we can learn from their examples. Sweden stands out because it was the first country to introduce paid parental leave in 1974. But while parents could share parental leave, they often didn’t. Mothers took most of the leave. In response, Sweden introduced a “daddy” month in 1995, which instituted a non-transferable month of leave for each parent. Dads had to use it or lose it. Fathers started using parental leave, and Sweden added another month in 2002 and then a third month in 2016. Now taking several months of parental leave is assumed. The lore about droves of Swedish dads pushing strollers’ midday is true. Swedish fathers take a greater percentage of available leave than fathers in any other EU country. But, even so, mothers still take more parental leave than fathers. And so I wonder why all of their leave isn’t earmarked for each parent.

We also need to ensure that all parents, regardless of their or their partner’s gender, are included. In Sweden, each parent currently gets 240 days of leave, with 90 days reserved for that parent and the other 150 days transferrable (meaning one parent could give the other parent their leave). While common practice is to call the reserved 90 days the “daddy quota,” Sweden uses gender-neutral language to refer to parents and parental leave so any parent in a couple, whether in a same-gender or different-gender couple, will receive the same amount of leave. Single parents receive all 480 days.

Fixing Family Leave

The US tends to focus on individual parental responsibility, often shying away from family policy.

Many policymakers argue that each person or family should figure out their own situation. Each person can negotiate with their employer to take off time. Each baby can figure out what to do while their parent or parents need to go to work to buy them food and shelter. This is just silly. We need a paid parental leave policy that covers all workers.  

Paid parental leave is particularly important for low-wage and variable hours workers who are less likely to have access to such policies and more likely to need support for their families. Recent research suggests that low-income and less-educated parents, particularly single mothers, benefit from California’s Paid Family Leave, with a reduced risk of poverty and increased household income.

The ideal parental leave policy would provide six months for every parent, regardless of gender or relationship status. Why six months?

Research suggests that shorter leaves may take a toll on families while longer leaves may also not be great for long-term employment and mental health. It’s very important to provide the same amount of leave to all parents. When policies are gendered, they lead to gendered outcomes. To put it bluntly, women will take leave, which may help in the short term but most certainly will encourage inequality at work and home in the long run. We need men to take leave to be better parents but also to normalize taking leave. The state-level policies have been effective and can provide guidance in adopting a national policy. Washington state has the best current policy with 12 weeks of parental leave paid at 90% of wages up to $1,427 per week.

Having a child is a key turning point for most people. Good policy can make the transition smoother not only for families but have a positive impact on the economy and society.