Adema, W., Clarke, C., & Frey, V. (2016). Paid parental leave and other supports for parents with young children: The United States in international comparison. International Social Security Review, 69 (2), 29–51.

Compared to other countries, the parental leave policies in the U.S is different, it only has unpaid maternity leave. The article also pointed out the positive influences of paid maternity leave and indicated the potential benefits of strengthening these policies. I think the quality of the source is reliable since it was derived from OECD Social Employment and Migration Working Paper No. 172, and the authors are policy analysts. To discuss maternity leave in the U.S, this is a great source to use because it provided a lot of analogical evidence.

Bryant, M. (2019). The US doesn’t offer paid family leave -but will that change in 2020? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/28/us-paid-family-leave-2020-election

Almost all countries in the world ensure the parents to have paid maternity leave, but the United States is not one of them. Until now, the U.S still don’t have relative policies to face this problem. This article discussed that the U.S government has started to talk about paid maternity leave and its importance in this year’s presidential campaign. Also, it discussed some potential policies that may be implemented. ‘The Guardian’ is a relatively famous newspaper, and this article talks current hot topics, so it can be used for my topic. This article is a good illustration of the trend towards paid maternity leave.

Bryant, M. (2020). Maternity Leave: US Policy Is Worst on List of the World’s Richest Countries. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/27/maternity-leave-us-policy-worst-worlds-richest-countries

As the title of this article says, the United States has the worst parental leave policies among rich countries in the world. It is the only developed country in the world that has no mandatory paid maternity leave policy. The article also comes from ‘The Guardian’ and was written by the same author of the last one. Differently, this article used mainly statistical evidence to show that most rich countries in the world have good policies of maternity leave. These comparisons are useful to reflect that U.S policy is very backward.

Delle Donne, A., Hatch, A., Carr, N. R., Aden, J., & Shapiro, J. (2019). Extended Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding in Active Duty Mothers. Pediatrics, 144 (2), 1–8.

This journal did researches about the influences on new mothers after extending their paid maternity leave from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. By increasing the time of breastfeeding, the mother and her newborn baby have better physical and mental health. This is an academic journal, and I think it has a high degree of credibility. I can use the evidence from this article that longer maternity leave has positive impacts to both mothers and babies.

Gault, B., & Hartmann, H. (2014). Paid Parental Leave in the United States: What the Data Tell Us Paid Parental Leave in the United States: What the Data Tell Us about Access, Usage, and Economic and Health Benefits. Cornell University, 1–50.

This journal introduced the benefits of paid parental leave in different countries. It also describes the current situation in the U.S and what implementations can do to promote paid parental leave. Since it’s an academic journal from Cornell University, it should be qualified. There are many claims in this article I can use to argue that paid maternity leave is better.

Huang, R., & Yang, M. (2015). Paid maternity leave and breastfeeding practice before and after California’s implementation of the nation’s first paid family leave program. Economics and Human Biology, 16, 45-59.

This article describes the positive changes in the California workforce after implementing a paid maternity leave policy. It highlights the positive impact of paid pregnancy leave. Since this is academic research that has rigorous survey data, it is highly reliable. I think California’s experience can be a microcosm of the entire United States, I can use this as analogical evidence to insinuate the whole United States.

Jia, N. Y., Dong, X. P., & Song, Y. (2018). Paid Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding in Urban China. Feminist Economics, 24(2), 31-53.

Like one of the previous sources, this article also thinks paid maternity leave is important because it can benefit breastfeeding and the development of infants. These benefits are proved by both American and Chinese scientific researches. A large number of scientific evidence in this academic journal is very helpful to my topic. The United States lacks relevant policies at this stage.

McCloskey, A. M. (2016). A Plan for Parental Leave. National Review, 68 (9), 18–21. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=115237594&site=ehost-live

The article listed the issues of not having federal policies for paid parental leave in the United States. The author also gave some ideal solutions to this problem. Many of them are reliable options and can be further discussed. I could find both pieces of evidence and suitable claims to support my propositions. The source is from National Review, so I don’t doubt its credibility.

Petts, R. J., Knoester, C., & Waldfogel, J. (2020). Fathers’ Paternity Leave-Taking and Children’s Perceptions of Father-Child Relationships in the United States. Sex Roles, 82 (3/4), 173–188.

This article illustrates the benefits of paid maternity leave from a father’s perspective. Through data research, the authors found that fathers taking at least two weeks of maternity leave can strengthen their close relationship with their babies. This is the conclusion of an extensive investigation. I can use this source to emphasize the significance of paid maternity leave.

BBC News. (2020). Finland to give dads same parental leave as mums. BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2020 from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51384614

This article introduced the new maternity leave policy changes in Finland. The father now has the same length of vocation as the mother. The author demonstrated many advantages of this new policy and how to implement it in different situations. The article is a recent BBC news which tends to have a minimal bias. I can use this resource as an analog to America.

Justification

Maternity leave is always an important topic in every country. To every people who want to have children, it is necessary to know the policies about maternity leave. As we know, the United States has relatively poor policies in this area. The absence of statutory paid maternity leave has significantly increased the financial burden on American families. This problem is even more pronounced for families who cannot afford high day-care fees and do not enjoy paid maternity leave. In addition to economic pressures, changes in American parenting ideas have also fueled calls for paid maternity leave. Therefore, whether to revise related policies is a topic that can be argued. As parents, everyone hopes that they can enjoy better treatment when they have just had children. Also, this topic has conflicts of interest, better maternity leave welfare may reduce the benefits of companies, they may argue this topic from the opposite side. It has relations to feminism too. With the feminist movement nowadays, the pursuit of a better maternity leave system can also be a hot issue for feminists (of course, male maternity leave is also important). To argue this topic, we should first list the benefits of maternity leave and prove that the current policies about maternity leave is not enough and the government needs to do more on editing relevant policies. In this process, there will be many rebuttals, such as who will afford the expense. To counter these rebuttals, we should give corresponding solutions. In this topic, the experience of other countries can be used as a very effective reference.

Propositions

U.S. should implement mandatory paid maternity leave policy.