Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Katrina Slaughter
Mrs.Litle
English 121
February 13 2019
The purpose of the article entitled “The world is getting better at paid maternity leave.
The U.S. is not.” (Melissa Etehad and Jeremy C.F. Lin) is to direct attention to the fact that
America does not have as many benefits for maternity leave as other countries do. This is
indicated by the sentence “Despite having one of the world's most advanced economies, the
United States lags far behind other countries in its policies for expectant mothers.” which can be
found in Paragraph 2. This quote expresses the fact that though the US is advanced in many other
The main idea is pointing out the benefits that other countries have for maternity leave
that America does not have. This is a massive problem as women at some point in pregnancy
cannot do physical labor or much work at all and during this time they still need their typical
income to support their lifestyle during the pregnancy. There are many supporting points
The first supporting point is the map entitled “Paid maternal leave around the world”
which shows how long women around the world are paid for maternal leave; America being the
The second supporting point states that some places require 14 weeks of leave whereas
more advanced economies allow at least 26 weeks of leave. This is a strong point because
America should then be one of these with how advanced our economy is.
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The third supporting point that I think really stands out is the part where it states that
some countries allow 52 weeks of paid leave. Fifty-two weeks; think about that. America offers
barely anything * IF ANYTHING * but about five countries offer 52 weeks and 100% of their
salary. This means that for 52 weeks in some of these countries, a woman will be paid for her
Another point made is that studies show that offering maternity leave can actually boost
economic growth because maternity leave can be viewed as an investment in their economy. For
example, a 2014 study done by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research stated that offering
paid maternal leave policies did infact support economic growth because it gave women job
security. Since America does not do this, there are many women who feel they must make a
choice between family or work which further makes women feel lesser than men in the
workplace.
Response
Firstly, I would like to point out how well this was written. The authors clearly put a lot
of time and research into this and that shows. Throughout the article it relies on ethos and logos
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more than anything as it shows credibility and logic. The sources are cited clearly and even
without the sources the authors show a great amount of knowledge on the topic as is.
That being said, the paper does present itself in a very slanted way as there is no rebutle
presented. The entire article states the same point which is that America is severely behind other
countries when it comes to maternity leave. It would help the article if the opposing side was
The point that stood out to me the most was the final image on the article. A chart entitled
“Paid maternal leave around the world” and below that it reads “The quality of maternal leave
has remained the same in 144 countries from 1995 to 2014. However, it has improved in 56
countries.” and in the chart it shows the progression of maternal leave benefits (which countries
it has stayed the same in or increased in. Some have missing data which may make this
The second point that I find interesting is the point that states ofering paid maternal leave
policies supports economic growth and as stated earlier; America does not do this which means
there are many women who feel they must make a choice between family or work. This makes
Works Cited:
Etehad, Melissa, and Lin, Jeremy C.F. “The World Is Getting Better at Paid Maternity Leave. The U.S. Is Not.” The
www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/13/the-world-is-getting-better-at-paid-maternity-
leave-the-u-s-is-not/?utm_term=.31fa2331a3dc.