Maternity Leave

As I was doing the readings for today discussing disabilities and the Family and Medical Leave Act, I kept thinking about maternity leaves and the very minimal accommodation that women are given by employers when they are pregnant. I found this very interesting article on the topic. According to a study done by Harvard and McGill University, "the United States is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea." California is the only state to have a state law providing paid family leave. Certainly some employers choose to give paid maternity leave, but there isn't much incentive for them to do so. Why do you think the U.S. is so far behind on the trend? Do you think the current plan is bad or good? (Under the current plan women are given 12 weeks of non-paid leave). I feel that the U.S. has such a broad spectrum of equal opportunity laws that it is surprising that this issue is being overlooked. Are there any problems with creating a national paid maternity/paternity leave plan? Countries in Europe often have plans where parents are given several months of full pay, followed by several more months of partial pay. These countries also allow men to take paternity leaves, which the U.S. does not accommodate for at all. I am surprised that more working parents are not upset by this issue. Please leave your comments to tell me what you think.