Let's explore what is meant by parental leave. According to Heidi Hartmann, "Parental leave generally refers to an authorized absence from work, with or without pay, by a mother or a father for the purposes of taking care of children" " (par. 1). After the authorized absence is over, the parent is allowed to return to her previous job, in the same or similar position. In accordance with the law, parental leave often is paid, in most cases by the employer who is sometimes reimbursed by the government. Ferber and O'Farrell explain that, "parental leave is predated by maternity leave, which was first introduced in 1878 in Germany, followed by France (in 1928) and Denmark, Finland and Sweden (all in 1937). " (161). Many industrialized country offers paid parental leave in one form or another, not including the United States. Family and Medical Leave Act is the only federal law in the United States that offers workers to take up to twelve, unpaid weeks of leave to care for a newborn.
Paid parental leave, maternity leave in particular, should be optional for small businesses, those with fewer than 50 employees, primarily due to financial sustainability. Many small businesses, especially in United States, do not offer paid maternity leave benefits mainly because they cannot afford it. Maybe the government is being overgenerous with this category of businesses that are not required to give employees even unpaid time off for maternity leave. They claim that the more the government improves the maternity leave plan, the more "moms risk losing their jobs when they have a child " (Bravo, par. 3). For instance, if one of the possible candidates for your small business is a male in his 40s and the other is a just married female, which one would you hire? Taking into account the recent difficult economic times, if small businesses have to pay for maternity leave, numerous businesses will hire male applicants instead, resulting in fewer females in the workplace.