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The purpose of this study is to critically examine family leave policies across universities in the United States to determine whether and to what degree they rely on traditional notions of motherhood and family. Conversations surrounding the lack of equitable and adequate family leave should be continued by researchers, advocates, and policymakers, but the inclusivity of current family leave policies warrants critical attention. The reliance on reproduction to define motherhood excludes individuals who cannot or choose not to give birth. This reliance also attaches mothering behaviors and norms to feminine bodies which works to reify gender inequalities. This project utilizes a mixed methods approach. Using a qualitative content analysis of family leave policies from different universities, I examine if and how they rely on aspects of physical birth, heteronormativity, and gendered language. I compare family leave policies across states that are (and are not) considered LGBTQ+ friendly. Secondly, I used a binary logistic regression analysis to test institutional isomorphism, specifically examining to what extent coercive and mimetic pressures affect family leave policy inclusiveness. I found that most policies are gender neutral and do not rely heavily on reproduction, but the implications of those that are highly gendered and rely on reproduction are enlightening. I found that only 8% of policies included LGBTQ+ specific protections. The regression model revealed that isomorphism is not the greatest predictor of policy inclusiveness, and that universities in less progressive states are more likely to have inclusive policies / Master of Science / The purpose of this research is to examine to what degree university family leave policies rely on traditional gender norms, biological reproduction, and heteronormativity, thus determining how inclusive family leave policies are of adoptive and LGBTQ+ families. Notions of traditional gender norms, biological reproduction, and heteronormativity can potentially exclude adoptive and LGBTQ+ families, as well as gender-nonconforming individuals. I compared universities in both progressive and conservative states to determine if state politics have any effect on family leave policy inclusiveness. I used a content analysis to examine these policies, where I individually coded each policy for gendered language, notions of biological reproduction, and LGBTQ+ protections. I also ran a statistical analysis to determine what variables have an effect on overall policy leave inclusiveness. I found that most policies are gender neutral and do not rely heavily on reproduction, but the implications of those that are highly gendered and rely on reproduction are enlightening. I found that only 8% of policies included LGBTQ+ specific protections. The statistical analysis revealed that state politics (i.e., informal pressures) are not the best indicator of policy inclusiveness, as universities in less progressive states are more likely to have inclusive policies.

The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not offer any form of federal paid parental leave. Only three states—California, New Jersey and Rhode Island—have state paid parental leave policies; implemented in 2004, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Through descriptive statistics and a regression analysis of women and men’s wages in those three states, before and after the implementation of the policies, we assess the effects of paid leave programs on the gender wage gaps in those states. Our results show us that California’s paid family leave policy had greater effects on decreasing the gender wage gap than the policies in New Jersey and Rhode Island. In addition, our regression analysis shows us that women of childbearing age (19-45 years) saw an increase in their wages after the policy implementations, while men of childbearing age saw a decrease in their wages. This led us to the conclusion that paid family leave policies may be effective in decreasing the gender wage gap; however it is problematic that men’s wages decreased, implying that the policies may not be totally welfare optimizing. However, we came to an important conclusion that will hopefully entice more states and the federal government to implement policies to better support working parents.

The Master's Thesis deals with women's rights in the Czech Republic and in the United States of America. The aim of the study is to compare women's rights and opportunities in education, labour market and family life. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the role of women in society in terms of education, voting rights and employment on labour market. Special attention is focused on family law, mainly on benefits for mothers in different life situations. The practical part of the thesis consists of two parts, a primary empirical research in the form of individual personal interviews and an interpretation of secondary statistical data. In the end of the thesis there is a comparison of both countries based on the theoretical information and the results of the empirical research.

United States federal law regulating leaves of absence for maternity-related purposes pales in comparison to other nations' policies, an observation only recently receiving attention from political scientists. Providing an understanding of how maternity leave is handled by individual organizations in the United States only, a quantitative study is conducted that examines local variation in policy formulation. Employee leave due to maternity is primarily a women's issue and its treatment will vary depending on the socio-political context that the policy dictating the leave is found in. Three main determinants of a policy's level of comprehensiveness are identified as being the political representation of women on local legislative bodies, the bureaucratic representation of women in their place of employment, and the level of women's movement activity in the community. Moreover, the gendered context of the organization is considered by comparing two historically distinct institutions on the gender continuum, public education and law enforcement. After analysis involving a national comparison of public school district and police department maternity leave policies, it was found that the presence of the women's movement in a community significantly impacts the dependent variable, policy comprehensiveness. The effects of political and bureaucratic representation, however, seem to differ between police departments and school districts. In consideration of the most comprehensive policies found, it seems police departments are highly influenced by larger proportions of women officers whereas women teachers might be at a disadvantage precisely because of their over-representation in school districts. Seemingly counterintuitive, this finding suggests that gendered institutions are predicated on more than just women's presence. Evidence that maternity leave policy in individual U.S. institutions is a product of the gendered culture of the organization was found by observing the differential impact of political and social variables on police departments and school districts.

Parental leave is a broad term that encompasses maternity and/or paternity leave to care for an infant. Parental leave provides job protection for workers and may be paid or unpaid, with provisions varying throughout the world. Every industrialized nation offers some form of paid parental leave, with the exception of the United States, whose only federal policy regarding parental leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a law that allows eligible workers to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for the birth or adoption of a child. This research project explored how parents understand and navigate the process of parental leave in the United States, and, using an anthropological perspective, situated these narratives into the overall framework of parental leave policy and use in this country. Data were collected through surveys (N=32) and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with expectant parents, most of whom were expecting their first child (N=20). The results of this study found that parental leave is valued, especially for the purposes of bonding and establishing breastfeeding. Parents were grateful for the length of leave they were able to take, but many would have liked to have a longer leave. Their decisions on whether to use parental leave were shaped by cultural norms relating to gender and worker roles within society, and also the ways in which parents embodied their role as mother or father. Parents also faced a complex situation regarding the availability and accessibility of parental leave within their workplace. While some parents had the option of taking job-protected leave under the FMLA, they did not feel that the leave was accessible, either because they could not afford unpaid leave, or because they feared that taking more leave than what was considered to be the norm in their workplace would have a detrimental impact on their career.

The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not offer any form of federal paid parental leave. Only three states—California, New Jersey and Rhode Island—have state-provided paid leave policies; implemented in 2004, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Through descriptive statistics and difference-in-difference-in-difference regression analyses of the wages of women and men of childbearing age (19-45 years) in those three states, we assess whether the paid leave programs have effected wages, and whether these effects vary depending on gender. Our results show that wages of women of childbearing age saw negligible net effects post-policy in policy states, although statistically insignificant. On the other hand, the wages of men of childbearing age saw improvements post-policy implementation in policy states, compared to wages in non-policy states. Although the policies do not necessarily widen the gender wage gap, they do not work to help close it, due to flaws in the policies. To be more effective in reducing gender wage gaps, these policies need to increase the amount of paid support, and implement job protection rights in order to decrease the opportunity costs of men taking leave. If more men are able to take paid leave, then potentially parts of the gender wage gap that are due to employers viewing women as less attached to the workforce can decrease. Through this research we came to important conclusions that highlight the ways in which support of working parents in the US is lacking, and offered recommendations to create more equitable and effective policies.