Yeah, our parent company is in Europe and must have stellar parental leave. We get one week (either parent), and the option of using short-term disability if you’re paying for that coverage.

As a Canadian: USA... WTF?!

The only way I can see this stigma going away long-term would be to start having maternity leave be tax-funded.

I hadn't thought of that. A lot of men don't feel like they can take it without consequence at work, but Sweden got around that but making some kind of punishments for men who don't take the leave. It got rid of the stigma for fathers.

Totally agreed! Interestingly, my job doesn’t offer any maternity leave AND you can’t carry vacation/sick/personal days for more than a year so there is no banking time for the future. My boyfriend’s job, however, offers him 6 weeks paid paternity leave. If we were to have a kid, I’d have to work while my boyfriend…

It's 2 years where I work (at a fucking hospital!). If you have been there a year, you can take unpaid leave through FMLA.

This is a fantastic idea. I’m in my twenties and I’m now (sadly) used to interviews with either predominantly or all male panels. Due to this, I don’t like to talk about the fact I’m getting married soon or the fact I even have a partner. On a few occasions, I’ve left my engagement ring behind because I feel that…

Regular paternity leave would actually do a lot toward removing the stigma of maternity leave. Employers still think of having and raising children as a “women’s issue,” and consider women getting pregnant a liability, while assuming men who have children won’t have to take time off or change their work habits because…

thats crazy talk , America is the land of the free , not free time off work to be with your kids, or free healthcare cause thats just insane.

Sure. All Anerican workers should have paid sick time, personal time and paid vacation regardless if male or female, single or married, parent or not. So yes, agreed.

Legally under the FMLA they do, but few men take it and many people can't afford to

I work at a multinational company. I have to say it pisses me off that my company can accommodate government mandated leave schemes in other countries but still opts to fuck over those of us in the States.

I recently lost my job and have decided to start my own business. When I was trying to decide whether to pursue working for myself, one of the “cons” was lack of maternity leave. But then I remembered that my old employer offered just 6 weeks of paid leave, plus another 6 unpaid. Fuck America.

Working Mother get into big trouble many years back when one of their highly rated companies was sued by a bunch of women for a hostile work environment to new mothers. Turns out the magazine was basing their ratings on what the companies’ PR person was giving them.

Men deserve to get time off too, when their wife is pregnant.