"The United States lags behind the rest of the world in providing paid family leave. In a study of 185 countries, only two besides the United States failed to ensure that new mothers get paid time off from work; the United States was also one of very few countries that doesn't extend paid leave to fathers.) [1]
In California, women are twice as likely to take leave as men; also, Californians who take time off don't receive full pay. The typical benefit is 55 percent of their usual weekly salary, capped at about $1,000 a week. [2]
The present situation on family leave: The Family and Medical Leave Act allows 12 weeks without pay. Some states give partial pay. Thus, the lowest-paid spouse takes the leave --usually mom.
The situation in Sweden: parental leave offers 480 days off, with 390 at 80% salary. Only about 6% of men took advantage of the policy in its first 17 years. Sweden redesigned the policy a few years ago; now a father is required to take at least two months off before his child turns 8 or he will forfeit his benefits altogether. After the change, 85% of fathers took leave. Moms average income was 7% higher for every month of leave that dads took. [3]
In the United States, balancing work and family is still a chore:
*In 1970, both parents in 31% of two -parent households worked full-time.
*Today, it's 46%.
*Only 25% of two-parent households have a dad who works full-time and a mom who doesn't work outside the home.
Average hours per week spent on... paid work --- housework --- child care. In 1965, taking these three categories in order, moms spent 8, 32, and 10 hours, while dads spent 42, 4 and 3 hours. In 2011, moms spent 21, 18 and 14 hours, while dads spent 37, 10 and 7
hours..
Current polling on doing housework shows the following: 43% of married moms say they handle more of the household tasks --- 49% of married moms who work full time do housework daily --- 64% of married dads say they split housework equally --- 18% of married dads who work full time do housework daily.
Employed people who think men should be breadwinners and women should be caregivers: Millennials - 34%; Generation X - 39%; Baby Boomers - 40%; and the Silent Generation - 51%.
41% of working moms report that being a parent has made it harder for them to advance in their careers, versus 20% of working dads who say the same.
California dads are 50% more likely to take paid family leave to send time with a newborn son than with a newborn daughter.
Men see a more than 6% increase in earnings when they have children. In contrast, women experience a 4% decrease in pay for each child they have. [4]
ADDENDUMS:
*Cotton on Torture - In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on March 23, 2016, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-ARK) claimed that the U.S. has never tortured; also, he said that waterboarding is not torture. Blitzer did not challenge Cotton on either claim. Cotton added that if an interrogator said he/she needed to waterboard to get needed information, that would be O.K. with him. Given that U.S. service personnel are waterboarded as training for if they should become captured, Cotton contends that they would not consent to it if it was torture. This latter claim is highly dubious, given the high priority for following orders.
*Nuking ISIS - In March 2016, Donald Trump advocated the use of nuclear weapons to destroy ISIS. The proposal did not draw much reaction; however, a proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz for police to conduct special patrols of Muslim communities in the U.S. has generated a lot of return fire.
Cluster Bombs - A total of 118 nations have banned cluster bombs. Textron Industries is a major manufacturer of cluster bombs.
Footnotes
[1] Bryce Covert and Mike Konczal, "Equality is in the Details," The Nation, May 9/16, 2016.
[2] and [3] Ibid.
[4] The factual information under balancing work and family is found in: Becca Andrews, "The Home Front," Mother Jones, May/June 2016. Also consult: motherjones.com/family.
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