PART ONE
Australia and United States are the only countries do not offer paid maternity leave. According to Elizabeth Broderick federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Sharan Burrow president of the ACTU and Heather Ridout chief executive of the Australian Industry Group paid maternity leave is not a bonus, it is about a right to paid leave for working mothers recovering from childbirth to help establish breastfeeding and for all-important bonding to occur.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/maternity-scheme-is-overdue/2008/04/07/1207420296235.html
British mothers get 39 weeks' paid maternity leave, with six weeks at 90% of their previous wage and the 33 remaining weeks at a flat rate equivalent to $270 a week. The British Parliament intends to extend that to 52 weeks by May 2010.
Maternity leave: Prior to and after the birth.According to Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 - ILO, MATERNITY LEAVE Article 4. 4. With due regard to the protection of the health of the mother and that of the child, maternity leave shall include a period of six weeks' compulsory leave after childbirth. In most countries Maternity leave: Prior to birth is minimum 4 weeks.
Paid maternity leave assists with the direct costs of having children, especially the increased costs faced at the time of the birth of a child. It protects working women from economic hardship due to maternity and it may also encourage some couples to have an additional child. It can assist prevent child poverty.
maintain the link between a woman, post child-birth and her employment and career, maintains an effective right to work, Female labour market attachment will improve employment rates and retain valuable skills, necessary in the new economies, provides protection for mother and baby, by providing an income for a short period. This allows recovery from birth, maternal/child attachment/bonding and give breastfeeding the best chance of success.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide
CONTINUE

PART TWO
Paternity leave is offered to new fathers around the time of the birth of their baby. The idea behind it is to allow fathers to play more a role during the crucial first weeks after a baby's birth.
Iceland 3 months paid paternity leave
Norway *(Outside EU) 6 weeks paternity leave ("use it or lose it") Some countries put restrictions, a minimum time for father. The system for parental leave try to give the time for women to improve their carriers and of cause to transfer responsibilities to fathers for their children.
Parental leave (additional to maternity+paternity) is time a mother or father can take off work in order to be with a young child,usually father's leave starts the third month after birth, either paid or unpaid.
Sweden: 16 months on 80 percent of salary, until child reaches eight years old. Can be shared between father and mother, with an incentive specifying at least two months for father. the cost being shared between employer and State.
Parental leave encourage the fathers to stay home and care their children!
Australia has one of the lowest levels of workforce participation for women aged between 25 and 44 in the OECD. We are ranked 23 out of 24 OECD nations.
Women with paid maternity leave are more likely to return to work (up to 90%) than those without,
Let's give the women the tools they need to develop their abilities and create their financial independence, let's create the conditions for equality between men and women
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

For those citing other countries which do have paid maternity leave as a reason for us to have it a couple of questions?

Are families eligible to recieve paid maternity leave in those countries which have it in a better position financially to take on the costs associated with raining children than families in our country?

If so then can you please provide a summary of the differences.

Please take into account all the other financial support structures which are in place to help families both in those countries and here.

R0bert

Good point R0bert.

>>Please take into account all the other financial support structures which are in place to help families both in those countries and here.<<

This is most often overlooked in these simplistic comparisons.

Another angle, which I would have thought equally important, is an assessment of the social implications of taxpayer-funded incentives such as this.

Is there, for example, any correlation between women-who-work and teenage drug abuse, youth crime rates and so on - i.e. is there also a social cost to such payments to add to the financial issues?

I agree with nearly all the anti PML posts here except for Col Rouge who has used his post to insult socialists.

While I would not call myself a socialist as such I am decidedly for the environment and for the more equatable distribution of income (and I guess against unfettered property rights with the emphasis on unfettered).

The only thing I can add to the to the case against PML that has not already been said is that for smaller enterprises particularly, not just businesses, any person hired to take over from the person on leave will usually only be temporarily and will need training. This is not good for either the employer or the employee.

Sorry, another point; PMT adds to the encouragement already provided by our governments to increase fertility rates in order to add yet more people to our already overpopulated country and world - madness at its very peak.

Pericles I'm not specifically against Paid parental leave other than a general objection to government manipulation of people choices and also the wastange involved when the government taxes me, wastes some then gives the remnants back.

I am concerned that the issue has become a symbol for some and that it's not been looked at as part of the overall picture. I get the impression that so much of what is presented to support the idea lacks real substance that there may not be real substance to the issue. The understanding of the author's slant on the issue contributes to that sense.

R0bert