My pal Rachel write,

<<The only down side of long paid leaves is that fewer women feel comfortable
asserting their legal right to time off for expressing or BF when they wait
12 months to return to work outside the home.>>

There's always a first, and to my astonishment I disagree with Rachel.   The
other downside of substantial leaves, at least as played out in the US, is
that they make managers more chary of hiring married or likely-to-procreate
women in the first place, and more likely to fire them.

I speak from experience here: I had a great maternity leave policy in my old
job, by US standards at least, but my job was "eliminated" and I was "laid
off" when I took advantage of it for the second time and was foolish enough
to confess that I hoped someday to do it a third time, too.   (needless to
say the same responsibilities and title went *the same day* to an unmarried
colleague...)

Establishing good maternity leaves is important, and I still fight for it.
But they are only meaningful in a social and economic climate that lets women
take advantage of them safely; and that is much harder to guarantee.

(American women who want more leave often look at Germany, where required
leaves are much longer.  But I am told that women's earning power is also
much less, there; and that's not good for women and children, either...)

A complicated question.

Elisheva Urbas
now working from home (or, as I like to say, editing in the bf lab)

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