In countries such as the US,
where paid maternity leave doesn't exist, let alone leave for the father, things are even worse.
For many mothers, especially in the United States
where paid maternity leave isn't mandated, choosing to breastfeed often means pumping several times a day.
Not exact matches
Where possible, these qualifying criteria will mirror the criteria for existing entitlements such as
maternity pay and allowance and paternity
pay and
leave so that families will be able to easily work out their entitlement.
So a good reason for policy makers to support
paid maternity leave and to set up policies
where more women are able to choose to breastfeed if they wish to.
And absolutely, the problem is SO MUCH BIGGER than one person's choices: the amount of misinformation floating around out there (and the amount of it that comes from otherwise intelligent, highly trained medical professionals), the lack of help and support for new nursing moms, the lack of adequate
maternity leave in the US (in Canada,
where I live, one can take up to 50 weeks»
leave with unemployment
pay), the persistent idea that dads «need» to bottle - feed their babies in order to bond with them, the idea that formula is «normal» and breastfeeding is «best» — in some places it really seems like you'd need a will of iron to keep at it when the going gets tough.
Where regulations are lacking is
paid maternity leave.
If your company doesn't offer
paid maternity leave, and you can't afford to take unpaid
leave try to work out a flexible schedule
where you might be able to work from home several days per week for the first six weeks after your baby's birth, or possibly ask to work part time for a period of time.
Some countries are moving in the same direction as Sweden,
where parents receive 14 weeks of
maternity leave and 10 days of paternity
leave at about 80 — 90 %
pay.
He adds: «Today, we live in a society
where women must work twice as hard as men to achieve «equal»
pay, particularly following
maternity leave.
In Capita v Ali, the EAT ruled that a failure to mirror enhanced
maternity pay was not direct discrimination, at least
where the enhancement is only for the first part of
maternity leave (at least the first 14 weeks, possibly 26 weeks).