The concept of progressive American gender roles is challenged by the United States’ lack of protection for paid maternity leave or any form of paternity leave.
Focusing specifically on long-established American parental roles, society traditionally regards “mother” as the partner who carries, feeds and more directly nurtures a baby while “father” refers to their partner. However, it should not be ignored that there are infinite meaningful ways to have and be a family. Many nontraditional families experience respective challenges when it comes to societal respect and the opportunity to develop a family.
The United States is one of the only first world countries not to provide the right to paid leave for pregnant society members – let alone for their partners. While private businesses and corporations are free to implement their own plans for employees, there is no universal standard for post-birth recovery.
Joe Youngbauer teaches social studies courses at PV. When his wife gave birth to their fourth child, Teagan, in January, he took time off to aid in her recovery and connect with his daughter. Youngbauer has taken paternity leave for all four of his children– the first time on Jan. 18, 2012, exactly ten years from the day his youngest was born this winter.
“It’s a special time, and it also is a challenging time, but it’s one that you don’t ever get back. Even though she’s an infant, time spent together is always essential in developing any kind of relationship and bond. I would say that that time and phase is important,” he described.
Youngbauer elaborated on how a significant part of his time at home also consisted of helping take care of his other three children. Making sure that they were fed, dressed and out the door to school on time was important, and he recognized that having a second set of hands around the house made a substantial difference.
Once a period for mothers to recuperate on their own, modern parental leave has adapted to account for fatherly impact on young lives as well, making the concept of paternity leave more common. A BBC article found “[t]he number of countries where paternity leave is enshrined in law has more than doubled to about 90 in the last 20 years; and globally, at least four out of every 10 organizations are thought to provide paid leave above the statutory minimum.”
Youngbauer shared his intrinsic connection with fatherhood. “I think about my grandfather and my father, and things have changed [since then]. I love my role as a father, and I value it tremendously. It is different – a bond between a mother and an infant and a father and an infant. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and that it doesn’t need time and cultivation.”
Contemporary awareness of gender stereotypes within parental roles has dismantled the persistent pattern of fathers prioritizing work over family while mothers tend to children. Since the birth of his first child ten years ago, Youngbauer has actively continued to develop his identity as a dad in a changing America.
“Trying to lead my family and take care of my family, that is my greatest priority. The things I can do for that – and for all fathers, not just me – it strengthens families,” Youngbauer elaborated. “I believe in the unit of a family and the power of a family. I think our societal structures need to value that as well and how important that family unit is.”
Emily Jorgensen, Honors English 10 teacher at PV, recently took 12 weeks of maternity leave to care for her new baby Manon. While half of Jorgenson’s 12-week maternity leave was paid under PV’s contract for teachers’ accumulated sick days, the other half was a combination of insurance and out-of-pocket coverage.
She described her maternity leave as a valuable experience she does not take for granted. “The [opportunity] was very much one of privilege. We had saved for years; we delayed having a child so that we knew we could afford that kind of leave. There are many people who simply can’t afford to make that choice to stay home that long who do come back after the six weeks or twelve weeks because they need their paycheck.”
Without legal paid maternity options in America, meticulous planning is required before a miracle. One’s job and personal healthcare plan create individualized circumstances for all. Jorgensen’s husband works for John Deere and had eight weeks of paid leave for their daughter’s birth, but three years ago, he had to use his paid leave time for other familial reasons.
Jorgensen recalled, “For our first child, my husband had a weekend. He has talked about how bonding has been so much stronger with our daughter. He felt like he knew what she needed or how our schedule worked was a lot better, and I think both of us slept better. The duties of a newborn felt more manageable because we were both able to be there.”
Jorgensen was very appreciative of the help given to her by family and friends following her first pregnancy, but she attributes part of her smoother recovery this time to having her invested husband around to contribute.
Choosing to stay home to care for one’s family may initially seem like a personal decision and not a legal debate. However, the discussion of maternity and paternity leave intersects with politics under President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan. This proposed $1.8 trillion plan proposes universal preschool, tuition-free community college and the implementation of guaranteed 12 weeks of maternal/paternal, medical, and familial leave.
Jorgensen commented, “Especially since we are a country that values things like startup companies and the inception of the newest great ideas, a lot of those companies can’t provide those [healthcare] structures by themselves. If we had those policies in place, that could even ensure higher levels of success for those small businesses or those startup companies so that they don’t have success or failure rates based on something outside of the company itself. You don’t want to fail because you had that third child and you don’t know how to care for them.”
“Investing in things like maternity leave and paternity leave – investing in things like affordable childcare for young families – would help the overall quality of the companies that we want to see succeed.” She went on to acknowledge, “Obviously we have our own different political beliefs, but one of the things that research has shown is that investing in children is very much a bipartisan overlap. People care about quality of life for children.”
The paradox of the United States’ immense progress in dismantling vast gender stereotypes but being one of the only first world countries to not promise paid maternity leave or any form of paternity leave demonstrates American priorities.
Jorgensen concluded with a statement looking to the future. “I think an investment in the youngest generation coming up – it’s not just a school thing. It happens earlier than that to really be of service to one another.”
Kora • Feb 8, 2022 at 1:59 pm
love this article! it brings up some valid points and shows a different perspective from a dads side like Mr. Youngbauer