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It really is a shame that US is the only "developed" country in the world without paid parental leave. It is also obvious that no gender equality in workplace can be achieved until both mothers and fathers have access to adequate and equal parental leave. Luckily, some tech companies start to care and offer some time off to both mothers and fathers. Well done AeroFS!

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While that may be so, the UK is not that much better. There's a statutory right for 12 months for the mother and two weeks for the father, but this is the statutory maternity pay rules:

> SMP for eligible employees can be paid for up to 39 weeks, usually as follows:

> the first 6 weeks - 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax > the remaining 33 weeks - £138.18 or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower)

That adds up to less than 30% of median income for the latter 33 weeks of the 39 weeks statutory maternity pay.

Parents can share leave in the UK, if the mother takes 9 months, say, then the father can take the remaining 3 (on top of the 2 weeks statutory)

Here in Australia has 18 weeks at national minimum wage for mums, 2 weeks minimum wage for dad's through the state. I'm German, and am a recent dad I must say that's really not all that good in comparison to my home country.

It's a benefit of working for that company. Awesome. That should not be forced on every company.

Why not?

It drives up the cost of employment and will eliminate marginal companies which otherwise might exist.

We the people have the right to choose if we'd rather prefer a few more marginal companies or better conditions for our babies.

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