Parental Leave Reflection

Final Reflection After spending the fall semester learning and delving deeper into various topics in our Women in Politics course from the early stages of the women's suffrage movement to debating if quotas are a useful tool in getting more women representation. There is no doubt that I personally found most of the topics incredibly interesting and mind changing however there is one topic in particular that opened up doors of multiple explanations of my past. The topic of paid family leave left such a memorable last impression because it deeply resonated with the struggles my family faced throughout my childhood. The insight of my parent's struggles in the past, gave me the opportunity to critically think about current policies in addition
for what women and others alike can do for further changes. Paid parental leave is not a common practice in the United States, providing only twelve weeks of unpaid leave through the Family Medical Leave Act.
This issue is incredibly important to me because during my childhood, I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the financial challenges my parents endured, even more so what my mother endured. Her inability in receiving paid parental leave or allowance left her with the unpleasant choice of quitting her job and not returning until four years later, losing another valuable source of income. With the loss of the extra income from my mother, we became dependent on my father leaving no room for extra educational or recreational activities that could have cultivated the learning experiences of my brother and I. Such challenges our family endured and the differences paid parental leave or allowances could have made includes both increased financial and job security. My mother states that had she received extended paid parental leave or an allowance of some form during our early years of childhood, she would have been more actively involved and engaged with our education. Possibly enrolling us in a program that provided extensive educational benefits besides head start (which is government funded).In addition, a family allowance would have helped our family not become so dependent on my father, as not only was he responsible for our expenses,
but also medical expenses of our sick uncle (my mother's brother) at the time. Another way paid parental leave could have helped our family, is by providing a sense of job security. When I was seven years old, bronchitis had fully taken its toll which left my parents rushing me into the emergency room. As a result, my mother missed work that entire week I was ill and not only lost a week's worth of payment but, was verbally scolded by her employer. My mother could not take any more sick days or else she would be looking for another job. That left my other relatives to take care of me for the duration of my illness. Furthermore, my autistic brother suffered the most as he was not able to receive extended services that insurance companies at the time did not cover thereby, delaying future speech development. This resulted in our family limiting our food intake to beans and tortillas for intervals of time. When I look back on my childhood and remembered the financial hardships my family went through and took into consideration what we learned in class, I realized that my family was never alone regarding this issue. Since my parents are originally from Mexico, they thought because of their status that they were being targeted. In addition, because they also worked in a rundown factory with my father in a supervisor position, which he worked extremely hard in climbing the ranks with his then broken English. My mother worked as a seamstress, but then later went onto become a general labor employee within the same company. With this in mind, it is not only important for women but for individuals of all backgrounds to collaborate on pushing for improved reconciliation policies. Women specifically can find their voice through changes in reconciliation policies. Now that women have been able to reach higher positions in their careers and also serve as main source of income in their own respective families, it is pivotal for acknowledging their hard work by improving reconciliation policies. The United States prides itself in being progressive, liberating, and flexible. Yet, the government and individual firms fail in exercising those values when it comes to parental leave and beyond. However, what these businesses do not understand is that by providing some form of allowance or extending parental leave from twelve weeks to the recommended fourteen weeks as suggested by the world health organization (WHO), could prove economically productive in the long run. Such notable examples for increased productivity includes Google, who not only provided paid maternity leave but provided an extension to eighteen weeks, saw its rate of new moms leaving the company decrease by fifty percent. As for Google, it decreases its chances of a not only high turnover rate but the likelihood of wasting time frantically searching for new employees. Although it is not parental leave, providing an extension to maternity leave is one of the first steps businesses can take in ensuring future prospects of paid parental leave. However, what is truly shocking is that the United States does not provide any sort of paid parental leave as it is also only country in the developed world that does not offer paid maternity leave. In comparison to other countries, such as Estonia which provides up to one hundred and eight weeks of paid leave, and a total of one hundred and eighty weeks of protected leave, it is no question that many other developed nations including our own citizens criticize our government for lack of progressive reconciliation policies.
We can improve as a nation by not only recognizing that the lack of progressive reconciliation policies but also, bringing more attention of these issues to the forefront. Instead of listening for what seems like the hundredth time about presidential candidate Donald Trump, on issues that truly impact American families. However, advocating for paid parental leave comes with its own set of challenges. Such challenges include the ability for businesses in paying for these expenses however that should not be the case. The world health organization recommends that payment should not be received solely from employers but also from other programs. Which in our case, either through social security or by raising taxes. The United States already on its own has a set of challenges waiting ahead in its future, but what we as women do today can most definitely change the landscape that challenge current attitudes towards women and potentially, make a much more lasting impression for further
issues.