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My good friend in Singapore recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. After completing 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, she plans to hire a full-time nanny, as childcare is affordable. She will then return to work as a brand manager for a multinational company, where her position is protected by law – e.g. she cannot be legally fired because she took full maternity leave.
Around the same time, a good friend gave birth in the U.S., co-incidentally to a baby boy too. After 8 weeks of semi-paid leave crafted from combining benefits such as sick leave, vacation, personal days, short-term disability and unpaid family leave time, she plans to return to work. Because the cost of a full-time nanny is prohibitive and the number of good daycares on her route to work are limited, her parents will help out for the first three months after birth. After which, she "doesn't want to think about it," because she'll have to make some tough decisions. One of them could be dropping out of full-time work to raise her son.
America ranks 31st worldwide for motherhood
So it's no surprise then that Singapore ranks the highest in Asia, and 15th worldwide, to be a mother. The U.S. is way down that list at 31st place, according to the annual Save the Children "State of the world's mothers" report. The top 10 best places to be a mother include Finland (no. 1), Spain (no. 7) and Australia (no. 9, tied with Belgium). The top 10 countries, in general, attained very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational, economic and political status, according to the report.
Some part of the the U.S. rank had to do with the gaps in emergency response and preparedness, the report found. For example, after Hurricane Katrina "children and mothers with the fewest resources often faced the most daunting challenges. Subsequent disasters suggest this continues to be the case."
The U.S. has been in the top 10 in the past, but next to Cyprus, it has fallen the furthest from the top. Alarmingly, we're seeing the health of American mothers and children falling behind. America is also among the countries that has made the least progress since 2000 on maternal and child survival. The lifetime risk of maternal death has risen more than 50% since 2000. Today, an American woman faces the same lifetime risk of maternal death as a woman in Iran or Romania.
The case for comprehensive maternity leave policies
The U.S. can no longer afford to ignore making considerations for working mothers. Today there are 40% of households with children under 18 whose mothers are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families. The little (if at all) paid maternity leave available in the U.S. varies significantly between states and companies. Still, any time off is laughable compared to other OECD nations. In the face of rising childcare costs coupled with low flexibility, more working mothers are having to opt out of full-time work. By the time "the opt-out generation wants back in," there are few opportunities for them to re-enter the workforce in any meaningful way. Unlike the high-ranking countries, the U.S. simply doesn't do enough to support and retain talented women who also want to be mothers.
The report also cited the low number of U.S. women in politics as a negative factor to mother and child's wellbeing in America. Although women make up 51% of the U.S. population, they hold less than 19% of seats in Congress. More than half of all countries in the world perform better on this indicator than the U.S. In Finland and Sweden – both in the top 3 best places to be mothers – women hold 43 and 45% of parliamentary seats, respectively.
It's worrying to see such a dip in healthcare provisions for American mothers and babies. Combined with lack of policy on maternity leave, many low-income American families are struggling to provide basic care for their children.
On a deeper level, I find it disturbing that paid maternity leave is translated as 'short term disability.' What message are we sending to working women who want to have children, if motherhood equates to a disability?
