Effects of Care Leave and Family Social Policy: Spotlight on the United States

Abstract

Consistent with Pope Francis's efforts to eradicate social exclusion, most countries in the world have already adopted care leave policies in an effort to reduce the conflict between being an employee and being a caregiver. Care leave policies allow workers time off for family or for self‐care. Historically, care leave policies such as maternity leave are viewed as an employee benefit akin to short‐term disability leave, providing job‐protected time off for new mothers. This study reviews the literature of the short‐ and long‐run economic and societal effects of care leave policies globally, with a specific focus on care leave policies in the United States. Care leave produces positive labor market and health outcomes, including increases in leave taking, improvement in replacement wages, improvements to profitability and employee morale, increases in female workforce participation and continuity, increases in birth weight, and decreases in infant mortality. Despite positive effects, labor market inequalities such as decreases in female labor market participation rates, gender wage gaps, and occupational segregation are often promoted by care leave policies. The conflicted findings in care leave research muddle the anticipated effects of paid care leave but allow room for alternative policy recommendations.

Intergenerational transmission of stress: Multi-domain stressors from maternal childhood and pregnancy predict children’s mental health in a racially and socioeconomically diverse, multi-site cohort

“…Second, most study samples are small, and the few large-scale studies of associations between maternal stress exposure and child development harness samples of predominantly White, middle-to-upper-income individuals who do not accurately reflect the diversity and range of living conditions within the United States [ 18 , 19 ]. Differences in caregiver and family social policies such as care leave benefits differ substantially across countries [ 31 , 32 ], therefore, extant findings may not generalize broadly. Moreover, families of color or with strained socioeconomic resources are disproportionately exposed to a variety of stressors [ 12 ], thus stress-focused research should include communities with higher exposures.…”

Linking gender differences with gender equality: A systematic-narrative literature review of basic skills and personality

“…According to the foregoing analysis, societal systems are characterized by internal structural diversification that is conceptualized to accommodate individual “expressive choices” but functions, instead, to increase stereotypes as people act out their internalized gender identities rather than their subjective preferences ( Rawlings, 2007 ; Charles et al, 2014 ). In addition, long periods of care leave and advanced family policies, which are generally found in gender-equal countries, tend to influence horizontal gender segregation and compel women to enter into roles typically considered more gender-appropriate ( Freiberg, 2019 ), widening even further the prevailing gender gaps. Thus, even when a society becomes more gender equal, “a preponderance of gender-typical choices” and an increase in gender variances can be expected ( Charles and Bradley, 2009 ).…”

Universal Basic Income and Work in Catholic Social Thought

“…This included leave taken for childcare or to care for sick family members. Universal care leave policies have documented positive effects on children’s health and on economies, but they can introduce gender inequalities to the workforce (Freiberg 2019). It is possible that basic income, by assuring a modest income for any family member who leaves the paid workforce to provide care, could help provide the benefits of care leave, while eliminating some gender‐unequal effects.…”