You can ascertain how a country prioritized families by their parental leave policies. While some countries pass laws that require employers offer a substantial amount of paid time off to employees to care for their children after birth or adoption, other countries only require a minimal amount of unpaid time be offered to “eligible” employees. What is an appropriate amount of time for new parents to take off of work for the birth or adoption of their child, and what should they be paid during this time, if anything? This is a question most countries have answered by implementing government mandated paid leave to the families of their society. In fact, “The U.S. is the only one (country) that doesn't mandate paid maternity leave.” (Kurtzleben par. 6) While some companies in the US have decided to offer their employees paid maternity leave the large majority do not and are not required to. Sweden is at the opposite end of the spectrum with a parental leave act that requires employers offer 480 days…show more content… Their Parental Leave Act was passed in 1976 and revised in 1978. The law mandated “parents are allocated a total of 480 days per child, which they can take any time until the child is 8 years old. They can share these days, although 60 are allocated specifically to the father. And they are entitled to receive 80% of their wages, although this is capped at a certain level.” (Killian par. 5) This law also required that new parents be allowed to work part-time for six and a half years after they return to their job. Before The Parental Leave Act of 1976 Sweden had the 1900 Swedish Act that mandated six weeks of maternal leave for industrial workers. At the time, this was the only law existing for this type of leave. Sweden was much more advanced when it came to family leave than most countries during the early 1900’s but since then the majority of other countries, besides the US, have caught
