I’m not proud to be a citizen of a country to not guarantee paid family leave. As you probably have heard by now, the US is 1 of 7 countries in the world to not guarantee paid maternity leave. We’re talking about maternity leave, not family leave. I know about some of the European countries like the UK, Germany, and Netherlands that honor mothers and families, but I don’t know anything about the other 6 countries like the US. I decided to look up these other countries to see where they are in the world. Now, I’m the first to admit that I stink at world geography, but this was a real eye opener. I can barely find or see these countries on the map. That’s because most of them are tiny islands out in the Pacific with populations the size of just one US city, give or take.
Here are the 6 countries according to data from the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, LA.
- Marshall Islands
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Nauru
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Tonga
What did I learn? I can now identify Nauru on the map, but only if I have a big magnifying glass. It makes sense for these very low populated islands to not prioritize paid maternity leave. It doesn’t make sense for our country of 333 million plus and about 11,000 births per day to NOT prioritize family and paid family leave. We need to get on board and join the rest of the richest nations and take care of our mothers and families. The future generation deserves a healthy start.
Here’s what else I learned. You’re gonna love this. For mothers in Chile, moms are required to take 6 weeks before births and 12 weeks after. Did I read that right? Yes, required before and after. That’s what I call smart family planning and at 100% pay too.
What do you think?
Check this out:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/maternity-leave-by-country
Source:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/maternity-leave-by-country