Chapter 1: <div> <div> <div> <p>Maternity leave includes the time that mothers take off from work to care for their baby and heal after childbirth. Despite the growth of mothers in the U.S. workforce, the U.S. lags behind other countries in offering paid maternity leave, resulting in poor quality leave for working mothers. Scholars have continually examined maternity leave as an objective construct and this method of measurement, while important, may be inadequate in capturing mothers’ experiences. Quality maternity leave (QML) is a novel construct that captures mothers’ subjective leave experiences and includes time off, benefits, coworker support, flexibility, and an absence of workplace discrimination and microaggressions. However, little is known regarding individual predictors and outcomes of QML. Therefore, I will discuss prevalent societal-level, work-level, and individual- level predictors of QML and well-being and work-related outcomes of QML. I will also integrate these into a conceptual framework that researchers can use understand what may affect and result from QML. This review has important practical implications for US policymakers and organizations regarding their support of mothers in society and the workplace. Future research should continue to build on this framework to ensure that mothers are provided the QML they need to thrive. </p><p><br></p><p>Chapter 2:</p><p> </p><div> <div> <div> <p>Maternity leave is a critical part of decent work when mothers are able to heal from childbirth, care for their newborn, attend medical appointments, and integrate their identities. However, the United States is one of few countries that does not offer paid maternity leave and instead offers job-protected unpaid time off from work, despite the importance of maternity leave for important maternal work and well-being outcomes. Scholars have typically examined maternity leave with objective indicators (e.g., days off from work) instead of investigating mothers’ subjective experiences of the quality of their maternity leave (QML), contributing to a lack of understanding regarding what leads to and results from QML attainment. Therefore, in the present study, I drew upon a framework that I created through a thorough review of the literature to examine privilege and access to power and resources, workplace culture and support, and work characteristics as predictors of QML. Additionally, this study primarily explored work-related outcomes including organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and job satisfaction. I hypothesized that the former variables would indirectly predict the latter variables through QML. The findings of this study inform inclusive, equitable, and adequate organizational and U.S. maternity leave policies. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

This diploma thesis analyses the questions that were put in to the Gender Studies, o. p. s. online law centre between the years 2006 and 2014. This online law centre is primarily dedicated to answer questions on the topic of discrimination in the labour market, especially on issues relating to maternity or paternity leave as well as reconciliation of personal and working life. The theoretical part is devoted to putting this issue into the appropriate social and legal context. The main aim of this thesis is to answer the research question on what are the topics of the questions asked in this online law centre within the above mentioned time period, and also to determine whether men and women are interested in diverse topics. The chosen research method is quantitative content analysis. The outputs of this analysis are rather descriptive due to the high number of analysed queries. Keywords: discrimination, maternity leave, paternity leave, paternal allowance, reconciliation of personal and working life.

Bachelor thesis "The Quality of Mother's life on Maternity and Parental Leave" deals with mothers and their satisfaction with this role. It deals with the definition of quality of life and its meaning. It also contains chapters on pregnancy, parenthood, the importance of families and the needs of mothers. It explains the concepts of maternity leave and parental leave. The aim of this work is to find out to what extent women are on maternity leave / parental leave happy and what factors contribute to this. For the practical part was chosen quantitative research, with the technique of questionnaire survey.

This work provides an ethnography of maternity leave in the Czech Republic, analyzing the experiences, attitudes and reflections on motherhood among 14 Czech mothers living in Prague. Maternity leave in the Czech Republic distinguishes itself from that in many other western countries by virtue of its long-term nature - typically 3 to 4 years per child. Ultimately, this model for long-term home care, institutionally structured and culturally naturalized, has an essential impact on the position of woman in the family and in the society at large. Today, Czech mothers find themselves the default caretakers in the home but lacking the extended family support and networks accessed in the past, particularly acute in the context of culturally negative attitudes toward hired help and nurseries in the Czech Republic. Czech mothers also find themselves pinned between two ideologies - one stressing the importance of maternal care for the well-being of the child and another establishing the low status of staying home to raise a child in the context of the need for self-realization in a career. This ethnography teases out the sometimes reinforcing but often conflicting notions of what it is to be a mother through analyzing the biographical narratives of three identified groups of Czech women: mothers who have...

The parent center is currently the phenomenon, which is compared with the "State" schools or more today to discuss "the children's group" devoted less attention. And, in particular, in the section that deals with the care of children without parents. Although the parent centers help solve one of the social and political problems, the Czech Republic- the lack of places in nursery schools, in crèches, they lack support. Legislative support, support the child care area in MC without the participation of the parents. In the Czech Republic currently operates a total of 427 MC and in the Liberec region, on which I focused in the empirical part, has 21 maternity center. Of these 21 parent service center to care for children without parental involvement provides a total of 14 maternity center. And the MC feels the need to legislative support, which would be welcomed by, clearer rules for the operation of the parent center, especially in the environment of a child without the participation of the parents. This support is important in all activities that MC. Maternity Center is not just about "meeting", but also on the promotion of intergenerational cohabitation, create facilities for families with children, and last but not least, active participation to facilitate the return of women and men back into the...

The diploma thesis focuses on the role of the media in the lives of parents on maternity and parental leave and how they satisfy their needs through use of media. The thesis is based on the uses and gratification theory and especially on the typology of media-personal interactions defined by Denis McQuail. The aim of the thesis is to find out, through twenty interviews with mothers and fathers living in the household with a child or children, for what purpose the media are used by this specific group. The thesis includes a theoretical anchoring of the approach of uses and gratification theory concerning its historical development during the 20th century, but it also focuses on its concept at present after the spread of new media. The theoretical part of the thesis also deals with the characteristics of maternity and parental leave and it tries to identify everyday activities associated with this period and its positive and negative aspects. The methodological part describes the area of qualitative research and related procedures, including the choice of data collection method, which is a semi-structured interview, and the characteristics of the research sample. The analytical part interprets the findings resulting from the data obtained through interviews with respondents. The discussion and conclusion of...

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SUMARRY The focus of this dissertation is the return to work of women after parental leave. The paper explores the topic of maternity and parental leave and care required by pre-school children. It further looks at the current employment status of these women on the job market, along with the offer of flexible forms of employment. The current situation in the Czech Republic is compared to other countries, mainly member states of the European Union. An empirical study based on a questionnaire survey is also a part of this paper. This survey examines the situation of a number of female employees of VZP ČR on parental leave as well as their managers and employees after return to work from parental leave. Based on the results of the survey, this paper proposes a programme, which should help female employees of VZP ČR with a smoother transition while returning to work.

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 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.