Christian Science Monitor Examines High Rate Of Women Starting Maternity Leave Near Due Date

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 23 Apr 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The Christian Science Monitor on Monday examined some of the reasons most working pregnant women in the U.S. do not take maternity leave until close to their due dates. According to recently released Census data for 2003, about 80% of pregnant women who work in the U.S. remained at their jobs until one month or less before giving birth, compared with 35% in 1965. Most women work until they near their due dates because they need the income and want to use their maternity leave after the infant is born, the Monitor reports.

Monica Samuels, co-author of "Comeback Moms," said that many women in the U.S. do not follow their physicians' instructions to stop working and rest before giving birth. "They feel the pressure of the job," Samuels said, adding that some pregnant women face "a lot of resentment" from other employees. "To show a commitment to their job, professional women often feel they have to go above and beyond what the ordinary person would do," Samuels said.

Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Working Institute, said, "Women are making the best decisions they can with the constraints they're operating under." According to the Monitor, these constraints include a lack of paid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. FMLA requires businesses with 50 or more employees to offer women who have worked at the business for one year 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for an infant, the Monitor reports.

In some European countries, far more paid leave is offered. For example, in France, women can take six weeks of maternity leave before the birth and 10 weeks after and are required to take at least two weeks before and six after. In Finland, women receive 17.5 weeks of maternity leave. "We think of needing 12 weeks to get over this event," Galinsky said, adding, "But we don't think of the time before as part of the transition."

To achieve a better balance, Galinsky said she favors a benefit called future leave, which some companies have adopted. "You work full time, but you put aside a portion of your money -- 10% or 20%," Galinsky said, adding, "That gives you some pay during a leave. It doesn't cost the company anymore money. It's a win for the company, a win for the employee" (Gardner, Christian Science Monitor, 4/21).

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