An emotional video from an American mother sparked debate on social media about how maternity leave is handled in the United States.
+ Click here to watch the video
An emotional post from an American mother sparked a major debate on social media about how maternity leave is handled in the United States.
The U.S. is among the seven countries in the world that do not guarantee paid parental leave by law. American mothers usually take an average of 10 weeks off after giving birth, but this includes both paid and unpaid leave, and only for those who are able to step away from work.
Compared to the global average of approximately 19 weeks of paid leave, parental leave in the United States falls far behind.
Marissa Jeanne, a mother of twins, highlighted how truly unfair the situation can be in a post on her TikTok page.
“I know I have more time than many women have with three months, but I just… I just don’t feel ready,” she says through tears, holding her babies.
She explained to Good Morning America how, in her case, the maternity leave rules were particularly harsh, as her pregnancy was high-risk and her twins were born five and a half weeks early, having to spend several weeks in the Neonatal ICU before they could go home.
Jeanne shared that since the three-month countdown started as soon as the babies were born, she felt as if much of her postpartum time had been stolen.
Her outcry on social media moved many people, and many mothers expressed solidarity with her feelings. Even people outside the U.S. commented on her post and expressed astonishment that longer leaves aren’t the norm, as they are in other wealthy countries.
“Three months is not enough! Mothers deserve more!” one user commented.
“In Canada, mothers get 12 or 18 months of paid maternity leave,” said another.
“The U.S. needs to raise its maternity standards. It’s crazy that we are so far behind every other developed country,” a third added.
Source and images: Tiktok @marissa_jeanne. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
