Abstract
While the United States did pass the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993, allowing for 12 weeks of unpaid leave, this policy is severely limited: only 85 percent of the American workforce is actually eligible for FMLA but many are unable to utilize much, if any, because it does not provide wage replacements. A mere 15 percent of the civilian workforce has access to leave that is paid. While a handful of states have implemented some form of short-term paid maternity leave, as of 2020 there is no national policy for paid parental leave in the United States. This lack of a national policy puts the United States in the company of only Papua New Guinea and Suriname as countries that do not offer paid maternity leave.
Kaufman’s goal in this book is to advocate for paid parental leave in the United States. She does this through a comparative policy analysis of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. The contrast of Sweden, widely considered one of the most equitable countries in the world, with the present policy in the United Kingdom and the lack of policy in the United States allows her to examine the pros and cons of each approach. Not surprisingly, Sweden offers the most generous policy, yet is not without criticism. Sweden’s policy provides mothers and fathers with up to 240 days of full and partially paid leave allowing parents to share caregiving labor and continue earning the money necessary to support their families. However, Kaufman’s data reveals that women are more likely to take longer leaves, which can ultimately hurt their opportunities in the workplace. By contrast, the United Kingdom offers up to 39 weeks of partially paid leave to mothers and two weeks of paid leave to fathers and partners as well as an additional 18 weeks of unpaid leave. Men’s leave, however, is tied to women’s leave. One outcome of this policy is that it tends to encourage men in workplace roles and women in family roles. The United States, by contrast, allows for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for mothers and fathers. Women who utilize this policy may experience workplace setbacks over the course of their careers, but any parent who takes FMLA leave is likely to suffer immediate economic consequences. Because this leave is unpaid, many American parents cannot afford to take much leave with the birth or adoption of a child.
After a consideration of the pros and cons of each nation’s respective policies, Kaufmann concludes:
The United States is way behind the rest of the world when it comes to parental leave;
Parental leave is good;
But not too much leave;
We need to think of fathers as partners, not helpers;
The United Kingdom is not a good model for parental leave and gender equality;
The Swedish model is great but not perfect .
Kaufman considers her book “based on case studies of the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden, with a policy analysis of parental leave policies in those three countries” (p. 19). Quantitative data comes from several government and nongovernment sources while qualitative data comes from more than one hundred interviews Kaufman conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as secondary interview data from two studies conducted in Sweden.
One of the strengths of Kaufman’s book is the careful attention she gives to the culture, history, economic structure, and political systems that influence each of the countries she examines. Sweden, for instance, introduced unpaid maternity leave in 1901, modifying it as paid leave in 1955. This strong history and cultural value on egalitarianism makes the lengthy parental leave for women and men relatively noncontroversial. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has struggled to develop and implement policies that bring them into alignment with European Union expectations. While contemporary public opinion demonstrates widespread support for a paid maternity/parental leave policy in the United States, political stalemates have prevented the implementation of any such policy on a large scale.
Kaufman analyzes existing policies and makes recommendations throughout this book. She demonstrates how policies can work to level the field for women at work and men at home; they can also perpetuate inequalities if poorly crafted. Cultural acceptance of women’s public sphere roles and men’s private sphere contributions is also critical to forming and supporting parental leave policies that don’t hurt families more than they help. It is from this comparative analysis that Kaufman develops and defends “the six month solution” for parental leave that advocates for paid parental leave for six months for each parent and encouragement for each to fully utilize this available benefit. Fixing Parental Leave: The Six Month Solution would be an excellent book for students and scholars interested in public policy, including factors that impact policy development and implementation, as well as the expected and actual outcomes.