This issue guide was created to provide valuable information to the workforce community, stimulate dialogue and initiate deliberation regarding parental and medical leave in the United States.

Providing an overview of current policies in practice and alternatives to improve the social equity of universal leave, this document aims to encourage the participation of the working community in policymaking that affects themselves and families.

In maternal health, some barriers that have limited expecting and early mothers from receiving maternal healthcare include lack of insurance coverage, laws and policies that hinder reproductive women from obtaining care, and lack of education regarding family planning and reproductive health. These limitations have led to social structures that villainize mothers seeking healthcare, contributing to a number of adverse health outcomes for reproductive women, children and the family unit.

Traditionally, women have represented the majority of parents that have utilized paid family leave. Even though there are opportunities available for fathers to participate in paternity leave, there has been a significant underutilization compared to mothers in most of the recent past. In 2006, the province of Quebec experienced a spike in fathers utilizing paternity leave with over 50% of fathers taking time off from work under a newly established paternity leave policy (Gordon, 2008). During this time, other areas of Canada had a rate of 10% of fathers taking leave.