Jul 6, 2015 2 min read

The United States Navy recently announced that it is tripling the amount of paid maternity leave that female sailors and Marines can take – a move that will now give new mothers 18 weeks off. That means that prior to this move, new mothers only received six weeks of paid leave – similar to what most women get in the United States.

The United States is actually one of only two nations – and the only developed nation – that does not guarantee paid maternity leave, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Papua New Guinea is the other).

By contrast, the United Kingdom offers 39 weeks of paid leave, Australia offers 18 weeks, and Mexico gives 12. Sweden, Lithuania, Austria, Poland and Hungary, among others, offer more than one whole year of paid maternity leave. Some nations, including Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Spain are just a few countries that offer some type of paternity leave.

The only thing that really protects a new mother and gives her job security following the birth of a child is the Family and Medical Leave Law, also known as FMLA, which was put into effect in 1993. It states so long as the full time employee has been with a company of at least 50 people for at least 12 months, then the employee has job protected unpaid leave.

The Navy is certainly moving in the right direction, and it is our hope that something can be put into place nationwide, and soon. Having a baby is not cheap, and the last thing that a new family needs is to stress about money or how much time mom will have with baby before she has to place him or her in daycare – something else that’s not cheap, but we will leave that for another editorial. Not to mention, at six or even 12 weeks, most babies aren’t sleeping through the night, which means neither are most working mothers.

Putting a policy in place nationwide that increases the amount of paid time off will benefit families and employers equally.