In a world full of hard-working women, there comes a time when women would like to settle down and start a family of their own. Women go through strenuous, long, and absolutely beautiful pregnancies. Women have to work if their jobs do not pay enough for the extent of their maternity leave or they do not have other supplemental income. Paid maternity leave is when a woman receives a set amount of money based on her actual salary. This varies greatly depending on multiple factors including job and location.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires employers with 50 or more employees to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. This is not a paid leave. These women are not making any money.  Although this is a beneficial policy which helps people maintain their jobs while caring for their child, having an unpaid leave will not help mothers with the expenses of caring for a newborn. This can be contrasted with the 40 countries that offer 100% fully paid maternity leave from anywhere from  8-14 weeks according to a European Commission on the topic.

The Maroon tired to bring this issue closer to home and look at home it impacts some of our teachers. Ms. Kurkjian, our own BOYCP Social Sciences teacher, who recently delivered a healthy beautiful baby girl was very open in helpful in her search to best understand how the birth of her child would impact her financially. Although Mrs. Kurkjian was fortunate enough to receive maternity leave, some women do not even offer that much. This is an unfortunate reality for too many people. Ms. Kurkjian also touched on how difficult it has been on her to find someone willing to take care of her child after her three month leave concludes. In reality, what seems to happen is that small groups of women band together to talk about share stories about how best to navigate this complex system.

Paid maternity leave deserves more attention since there are mothers who want to start a family but cannot leave their occupation for three months and not receive any financial support. As a country we need to come together and have a conversation about paid maternity leave asa legitimate option for mothers-to-be. Financial issues should not be on a pregnant woman’s mind; caring for her little bundle of joy should be.

-Mahogany Miles