Childless women deserve maternity leave, too

oh yes, "grappling with doubt" is just as difficult, socially-necessary, and time-consuming as raising children.

This world is in no way being pushed to the limit. Some of our practices need to change. That's called adaptation. That does not include strict population control. It does include some form of limitation of C02 emissions, pollution, and deforestation.

average adoption cost is in the mid to high $30k's, while wait time apparently varies wildly depending on how much is spent on "advertising." That is not exactly how it should be, but that varies between a few months and over five years. Adopting a child in the United States does mean that the mother can take the child back.

Marcia6 wrote:

Actually wait isn't the USA very poor on maternity leave? So it doesn't matter much anyway

I think it's 3 months up to a max $105k/year salary, which comes out to $26k max for the three months.

In Germany, the monthly max is 1800 EUR (=$2000). But you can take one year off. So total payout would be $24k.

In other words - SF parental leave is actually more generous than the one in Germany, if you compare the numbers.

(Obviously that calculation is simplified and doesn't take tax implications etc into consideration).

SF Dude from Germany wrote:

I think it's 3 months up to a max $105k/year salary, which comes out to $26k max for the three months.

In Germany, the monthly max is 1800 EUR (=$2000). But you can take one year off. So total payout would be $24k.

In other words - SF parental leave is actually more generous than the one in Germany, if you compare the numbers.

(Obviously that calculation is simplified and doesn't take tax implications etc into consideration).

Imagine a system where they pay out a $30k lump sum right at the start. Then new mothers wouldn't have to miss any work at all!

NYPost wrote:

Lets face it, they work just as hard and then even harder, because they pick up the work that the mothers can't do because they need to leave at 3:30pm to pick up their kids from childcare.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/28/i-want-all-the-perks-of-maternity-leave-without-having-any-kids/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow

What do you think?

Let's face this too then -- parents are raising the next generation that will support this generation in their retirement - and with little help. I assume you all want doctors, dentists, repairmen, etc in your old age?

I'll tell you what's irrational. Cherrypicking one or two of my points, and not even my main point, and arguing against them while ignoring the point being made.

jjjjj wrote:

That does not include strict population control. It does include some form of limitation of C02 emissions, pollution, and deforestation.

Good luck limiting those when the world population is growing at 80 million per year.

As far as the population control issues that have been brought up, it's pretty well agreed upon that the earth's population is going to stabilize in the next few decades. National populations follow predictable growth patterns. Population booms occur with industrialization, then level off or even start to fall post-boom.

Saying that the world's population is growing at X per year, so we're all going to be fighting for resources soon is like saying that it's going to be 375 degrees two weeks from now because it was 50 degrees yesterday and it's 75 degrees today.

Go have all the kids you want. By the time they're having kids of their own, we'll be where a number of countries are right now: wondering where the younger workforce is going to come from to take care of an aging population that hasn't replaced itself.

population dynamics wrote:

Saying that the world's population is growing at X per year, so we're all going to be fighting for resources soon is like saying that it's going to be 375 degrees two weeks from now because it was 50 degrees yesterday and it's 75 degrees today.

It's more nuanced than that. The problem isn't just that the population is growing. It's also that people everywhere are consuming more. Even if population levels stabalize, people will expect more and there will more and more pressure on resources. It's not sustainable.