The Motherhood Manifesto.

Last week I saw the film, "The Motherhood Manifesto," which was produced by Moms Rising.  A trailer is above, and you can find more clips here.

This film made me ponder, for the millionth time, how it's possible that we can have such wealth in this country and yet rank just about last in the industrialized world when it comes to basic policies like paid family leave and health care for children. 

The film points out, for example, that the only countries in the world with no paid maternity leave are Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the United States of America.  I meet more and more mothers who are returning to work at six weeks because they can't afford to take advantage of their unpaid Family Medical Leave Act leave.

Just think what could happen to breastfeeding rates if we had family leave policies like Canada, which provides 15 weeks of partial paid pregnancy leave, 35 weeks of partial paid maternity/paternity leave, which can be extended by up to an additional 15 weeks of sick leave.  I know, I know, we are so different from Canadians.  That could never work here.  I mean, they say "aboat" and play that curling thing, and um...yeah.

After the film my friend sitting next to me asked, "which part made you the most mad?"  We both felt that the health care for children segment was the most disturbing.  The film paints some good portraits of the effect of our health care system on families, pointing out that half of all bankruptcies are related to medical issues - and most of those families have insurance.  As you probably know, we are the only Western nation without universal health care coverage, despite spending more per person on health care than any country in the world.

Not realizing that there would be screenings in my community, I purchased my own copy, which Moms Rising offers at cost.  If you have a moms group which would like to watch it, send me your name and address.  There are suggestions on how to hold a house party here, though you really don't have to do anything but show the movie.  I may ask you to send it along to the next group, so please only respond if you'd be willing to do that.

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Comments

[Meleah]

Hi Tanya - I just wanted to say thanks for the comment and cheering me on for NaBloPoMo. I also wanted to say thanks for your awesome blog. I link to you from my blog because this is my favorite breastfeeding blog. You always have great information and interesting posts. Keep up the good work and thank you for all the info.

I, too, am saddened by the maternity/paternity leave situation here in the States. I think is it bordering on barbaric to force a mother to return to work when she has a SIX WEEK OLD BABY. Since I used up most of my FMLA while on bed rest with a twin pregnancy I was expected to return to work when my twins were six weeks old. I would have gotten eight weeks if I had a C-section, but since I pushed out TWINS I only got six weeks. And, no there is no extra time given for the second baby -- they just count as one. There was also no consideration to the fact that my twins were born one month premature. I cannot even begin to tell you how small my babies were at six weeks. My little girl only weighed 5 lbs 15 oz at her one month check up, so as you can imagine she was still smaller than the average full term baby at six weeks. Luckily, my job was very understanding and arranged for me to have a leave of absence with no pay, but continuing medical coverage. I was able to take this time with no pay because we are a dual income family, but many MANY women are not so lucky. One of my coworkers, returned to work when her baby was eight weeks old. I have since decided to become a stay at home mom due to the cost of childcare for two infants, but it pains me to think that there are so many women who do not have a choice. They must return to work regardless of whether they are physically or emotionally ready to do so. I am going to look into getting a copy of this movie to show at a future La Leche League gathering. I hope that one day we will catch up with the rest of the world so that maybe my daughter (and son) will be able to spend time healing and bonding with my grandchildren.

[onetinkerbell]

I read this entry and then, as if by magic, the local PBS station had this movie on last night! Maybe they were reading the blog, too? Anyway, I was appalled at most of the information and had to leave the room at one point because I was so disgusted with our country.

While living in Germany I found out that German women can take leave from their jobs until their children are old enough to start kindergarten at around age 3 or so. A teacher at the kindergarten my daughter attended had been out for 5 years because she'd gotten pregnant with a second child just prior to returning to work when her first child was almost 3. She finally returned to teach during my daughter's last year at the kindergarten (she was there for 3 years) but got pregnant soon after returning to work and so left in February of that school year for her newest round of maternity leave. I'm not sure of the pay issue, but I do know that she is guaranteed a job there when this newest baby is old enough to go to kindergarten in about 3 years. All this on top of the monthly 'kindergeld' payment that German families get per child. Makes me wish I were German.

In the Netherlands, my cousin works for the records office at her local city hall. Because her son is mildly autistic she needs to be able to be at home when he returns from school, rather than send him to a babysitter or neighbor. The city government policy allows this, so she works what we would consider relatively short days -she gets home at about 2 pm -and is this way able to have good quality time with her kids in addition to having enough income for her family.

Why can't we have national policies like this?