Sheryl Sandberg and the Lean-In movement

In Canada the mother can take up to a year of maternity leave with the guarantee that a job at the same level will be there when she returns.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/maternity-leave-basics-canada-vs-the-us/article4197679/

On top of mandating maternity leave, the government offers paid leave for one or both parents through Canada’s employment insurance plan. A pregnant employee or new mother can take a paid maternity leave of up to 15 weeks. Either the mother or father can take 35 weeks of parental leave after the baby is born or adopted. The parents can share the leave however they choose. If eligible for the program, the benefits equal 55 per cent of the parent’s average weekly insurable wage, up to a maximum of $485 per week. For low-income families, the rate of benefits can increase to up to 80 per cent, with the same maximum of $485 per week. Employment insurance benefits are taxable in the same way as wages.

Taking a paternity was never an option for me as my wife deserved all of the time off however I know a couple guys in the office who have taken some time, usually around a month, for paternity leave.

 

But only if they fall in lockstep with your views. Got it...

 

That's what my wife's collective bargaining agreement allowed her to do.

It permitted us to change our life, basically. We had a child, our first, and she took the year off while I went through my first year of law school, when grades matter most. Then, after a year, when I could afford to help out a little bit more, she went back to work.

 

In fairness, Sarah Palin is a bit of a complete fucking idiot.

 

Nice pull but we're not quite ready for ...

 

The world will never be ready for that.

 

Well, we have a long history of male leadership on which we can draw conclusions. The sample size for female leadership isn't nearly as substantial. You're right, they're human. I'm inclined to put this scenario under the heading of "we don't know until we try."

 

According to Hanna Rosin's book, "The End of Men," there is some research that indicates that women, once they are in leadership positions and entrenched there, tend to lose their supposed softer, more empathetic approaches and become more like we think of men being. Plays out again and again.

 

It is now 501/wk and if the woman is sick prior to her planned Maternity start date she can get an additional 15 weeks of sick benefits. There are also employers who will top up the mother or Father to anywhere from 80 to 95% of their wage. This is usually in union jobs where this is collectively bargained.

 

Homing in on maternity leave misses the point. Sandberg and others aren't talking about the six months to a year after the child is born. They are talking about the choices moms (and dads, though to a lesser degree) make about their time for the 17 years after that. Personally I would never want a job that forces me to miss those moments, neither would my wife, so we have made plans and decisions based on that.

If it was a matter of covering for a year, this would not be a terribly vexing issue, I don't think.

 

After reading your post I went and searched for Rosin and found an article that talked about the increasing presence of females, noting that this year for the first time in history, there are more women than men in the workplace, and more female managers, as well. Nonetheless, I would submit that the world of power and influence is overwhelmingly a male one, and the females that have achieved positions of power are still operating under patriarchal practices. I wouldn't dismiss the research out of hand, but I do question whether it's a predictor of how things will go if/when we get to a point where we can no longer say "it's a man's world."

 

Katharine Weymouth: