Should I Move to France to Recevie Acceptable Maternity Benefits?

This article in Newsweek points out that:

In the study of 173 countries, we stood with Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea as the only countries providing no paid maternity leave. Of the 169 countries that guarantee paid maternity leave, 98 of them provide 14 or more weeks. Among wealthy countries—except ours—parents are entitled to as much as 47 weeks of paid family leave.

Why is there not a bigger cry for maternity leave form in the U.S.? I suspect that it goes back to our puritanical roots and our country's "work ethic," in addition to the longtime dominance of the old white men. I could similarly write a whole post about getting a month of for vacation a la Europe, but that's for another time.

I truly believe, though, that reform is necessary. Speaking from my personal experience, my small office offers six weeks of short-term disability coverage. I coupled that with saved vacation days and financial savings to take an additional six weeks off. Though FMLA in larger organizations allows women to take 12 weeks, it does not provide income, making the time off impossible for many women. I was lucky to be able to take advantage of my office's coverage and to be able to plan accordingly for more time.

Why is this an important issue to me? The sooner women return to work, the less likely they are to continue breastfeeding. Although, not every woman opts to breastfeed, we should all have the choice, especially for the first six months of an infants life. According to the World Health Organization, this is the only nutrient necessary.

With my current work schedule, I work four days, then am off for a three day weekend. While I'm home, I am the sole provider of MacBaby's meals. If I didn't have to work, he would never receive formula. As it were, the pumping proved to be ridiculously time consuming, so he does take formula while I'm at work.

Again, I'm not saying everyone must breastfeed their children and that anything else is bad parenting, but we should at least be able to raise our children with our best intentions the way we see fit. The government should want that too.