How to Love Paid Family Leave

Americans like to think they honor and defend family values. Yet in international rankings measuring support for families, based on the amount of paid leave to care for a new child or an ailing relative, the U.S. has sunk to the bottom. The country is one of only four that don’t even guarantee paid maternity leave—the others are Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Suriname. The two-decade-old Family and Medical Leave Act allows U.S. workers to take some time off, but without pay. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, almost half of all workers eligible for FMLA leave have been unable to take time off because they simply can’t afford to go without income. And according to the Community Service Society, a charitable group and research center, the average minimum wage worker in New York can afford to take only about eight days off without pay before his or her life savings are wiped out.

What are we actually valuing in our family policy? The usual argument against granting paid leave, intoned by elected officials and the private sector, is simply that it’s bad for business. On the other hand, some proponents of reform continue to frame the debate around working mothers. But in reality, paid leave is good for business, no matter how counterintuitive that might seem. And it’s also much more than a women’s issue.