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Paid Family Leave: USA vs Denmark

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This is the project (what was provided to me by my instructor):

Family Leave Project

Parenting requires a tremendous amount of time and commitment. Many families struggle to balance the requirements of a job or career with home and family life. Caring for children in a home where both parents work presents a problem for many families. This struggle often begins before the child is born! In this project you will compare parental leave within the United States with one other country.

First read the article, Parental Leave Policies in 21 Countries, Assessing Generosity and Gender Inequality by Ray, Gornick, and Schmitt. Select one country from this article for comparison.

Create a two column table to compare your chosen country with the United States of America.
You may wish to compare paid leave, job security, maternal vs paternal leave, average length of leave, etc. Your table should be no more than one page long.

You may use additional research (not from Wikipedia), to supplement your findings. Be sure to utilize appropriate citations and include these sources in your reference list.

Draft a letter to your senator or representative requesting a change to one current U.S. policy. Please see the document How to Write a letter to a Politician in the readings section of this week's assignments. Please follow the specific format shown in this document.

This assignment must include a correctly formatted APA style cover and reference page.

I've already created my table. I'm doing Denmark vs. US and I have to compare the two with maternity leave. I need these five little things: paid leave, job security, maternal vs paternal leave, average length of leave, etc. The table should be no more than one page long. I don't know where to begin. I stare at the article and it's just an over abundance of facts and data.

I'm just so exhausted and everytime I go to that article, I'm overwhelmed by all the information provided. I just got over having the Norovirus - my kids also came down with it , I haven't had any sleep and I'm trying to do this project and reading this giant article. I'm already behind and I would greatly appreciate a hand or somewhere to start.

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Solution Summary

The solution provides information, assistance and advise in tackling the task (see above) of putting together a letter to a US Congressman for the purpose of proposing policy changes on paid family leave. It also includes a comparative table that compares elements of paid family leave practices between the United State and Denmark including length of leave and job security. Resources are listed for further exploration of the topic.

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Part 1: Letter to US Representative

Date

The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative (Last name):

Greetings! As a constituent in your district, I would like to first thank for your service and support to our community. Your work to support the families - parents and children - in the areas of education and health care is much appreciated. I am writing to you however to ask you to look into the state of paid maternity leave as well as the rectification of 'minimum employee number' in relation to the qualification of employers who are required to give out 'paid family leave' in cases of natal, sick and family care leave.

Currently, maternity leave is considered part of 'paid family leave' and thus, the concept of 'maternity' leave is not considered at all. I pray that this be rectified due to the unique needs of the mother, the newborn and the family when a mother and the family is expecting and then afterwards care for a newborn. If we look at the case of Denmark, maternity leave is prioritised where mothers are ensured a minimum of paid 20 weeks leave and a maximum of 52 weeks leave with the last 32 weeks unpaid but with the job protected. Their policy I believe ensures that the mother and the child's health is put in focus and allows for recovery and care for both the mother, the child and the family.

Additionally, the minimum of '50 employees' requirement for companies to qualify allows for a number of companies to 'strategize' against mandated paid family leave. Some companies employ at to a maximum of only 49 to circumvent qualification. I believe that it is time to reconsider 'minimum employee number qualification' and rewrite the paid leave requirement to cover all companies as this brings ...

Solution provided by:
Xenia Rochelle Jones, MA, PhD (IP)
Education
  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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