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The United States is the only industrialized nation without paid parental leave. Parental leave consists of providing new parents with job-protected time off when they bring a biological child, foster child, or adopted child into their family. The U.S.’s current and only parental leave policy is the 25-year-old Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The FMLA provides up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for eligible employees working for covered employers. Approximately 60 percent of the United States workforce is eligible to take FMLA leave. Employees can take leave for the birth of a child, adopting or fostering a child, or caring for themselves or a family member with a serious health condition.

Economic justice and workers’ rights experts have long criticized the FMLA because it’s unpaid, only covers full-time employees, and is only available to larger employers. And it’s puzzling that the parental leave paradigm has remained unchanged and unpaid for decades, as the majority of voters and employers support paid leave policies. According to a Fortune-Morning Consult poll, 74 percent of registered voters said they supported requiring employers to provide paid parental leave for new parents. Within that 74 percent, 71 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Democrats polled supported creating paid parental leave policies. Employers are similarly supportive of paid parental leave. Large companies such as Spotify, Microsoft, Twitter, and many others provide paid family leave. Even the majority of small businesses believe it’s crucial to provide a federal paid leave program.

The assumption that women will take leave if they birth, foster, or adopt children leads to potential hiring discrimination. And women of color and single parents are the most impacted by lack of paid leave and gendered stereotypes.

While voters and employers are supportive of federally required paid parental leave, there remain deep cultural biases about who should be taking parental leave. Because of gender stereotyping, women are widely assumed to be fundamentally better caregivers who should take the majority of leave when their babies are born, leading many to think of parental leave as “maternal leave.” According to the Pew Research Center, even though 71 percent of Americans think that both parents should have equal time to bond with their children, more believe mothers are better caregivers and do a better job as parents. Theses biases disadvantage all families by creating disproportionate expectations for parents based on stereotypes rather than their own lived experiences and what they know to be best for themselves and their families.

These biases especially harm women, especially women of color, and their careers. The assumption that women will take leave if they birth, foster, or adopt children leads to potential hiring discrimination. In addition, women lose out on paychecks, wage increases, and future promotions when they leave the workplace for extended periods of time without pay. In particular, women of color and single parents are the most impacted by lack of paid leave and gendered stereotypes. Black mothers are more likely to work outside the home and more than 70 percent are the sole breadwinner for their family. Among Latina women, more than 40 percent are the sole breadwinners for their family. This creates an impossible choice; stay at home with their children or provide financially for those children.

Of course, men are also harmed by this kind of institutionally gendered stereotyping. In many opposite-gender couples, men avoid taking leave to avoid workplace stigma and losing income. Outdated gender norms demand that men be relegated to the role of financial provider, not active parent. This creates societal pressure on men to take as little leave as possible. In addition to the problems created by these heteronormative stereotypes, LGBTQ families often face powerful obstacles when trying to take parental leave. Many companies only provide paid leave for mothers, leaving male couples with no paid leave options when they add to their families. This is especially challenging for LGBTQ families, as they are four times more likely to adopt a child and six times more likely to foster a child. This is why, in order to combat, deconstruct, and ultimately destroy these harmful stereotypes and the resulting shame and stigma that so many parents feel amid the excitement of adding to their families, parental leave must be paid and gender neutral.

Those of us in the reproductive justice movement must advocate for gender-neutral parental leave because it is an essential part of truly empowering all people to be able to decide if, when, and how to create and sustain their families. Studies have shown that when paid leave is gender-neutral, it’s more likely that both parents will take leave. In a study of California’s paid family leave program, fathers were 46 percent more likely to take leave when it was offered to them. This increases the amount of time both parents spend bonding with their child and creates more equitable households. In a study of two-parent, opposite-gender households, fathers who took two or more weeks of leave were more involved in the direct care of the child than fathers who did not. This also leads to more equitable division of household responsibilities and caregiving duties going forward.

Additionally, extended time off creates more freedom and choice in how parents raise their children. Parents who use paid parental leave are more likely to take their children to regular checkups and immunizations, and a study of California’s paid leave program also showed that parents were more likely to initiate breastfeeding and continue breastfeeding for twice as long as those without access to paid leave.

Those of us in the reproductive justice movement must advocate for gender-neutral parental leave because it is an essential part of truly empowering all people to be able to decide if, when, and how to create and sustain their families.

One of the tenets of reproductive justice is the freedom to create our own versions of what it means to be in, create, and sustain a family. Maternity leave was once considered the best, and indeed the only, option for the nuclear, opposite-sex, two parent households deemed compulsory in yesteryear. However, times have changed, and with them, what it means to be a family. Families can have single parents, same-gender parents, gender non-conforming parents, and adoptive and foster parents – all of whom are now more likely to work outside the home. The only way to prevent discrimination and provide a “one phrase fits all families” policy for modern America is to provide paid, gender-neutral family leave.

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