Without parental leave I might be dead
I believe parental leave should be provided, but I don't see how anyone expects employers to shoulder the burden of providing paid parental (in reality maternity) leave without an implicit bias towards hiring men (or at least paying women less). You can provide the same benefit to men and women, but let's be honest, even when available most men take only a fraction of the allowed time.I guess you can force people to take parental leave, but then that just further encourages discrimination against people of child bearing age.Even if the federal government picks up the bill, it's still a discontinuity in business, something an employer would want to avoid.> Withholding paid family leave isn’t just bad for parents and babies, it’s bad for business.If this were true businesses wouldn't have to be forced to provide parental leave. You can point to a study that "proves" that parental leave is good for business, and obviously it makes sense as a benefit. Some companies pride themselves on their parental leave and use it to attract candidates. But obviously it doesn't make sense for many businesses, otherwise they would all be doing it.It's like one of those things that promises everything to everyone. Like veganism. Proponents tell you it tastes better, is great for your health, is better for the environment, and is cheaper. Obviously it can't be better in all dimensions otherwise everyone would be doing it. You see the same thing with minimum wage. How paying people more is great for everyone and the business. Sometimes it is, but there are trade offs and someone that doesn't run a business can't do a "study" and tell you the optimal policy for your businessWhen you can't even have a conversation in good faith about the tradeoffs in a policy, nothing will change.Saying "other countries do it" isn't really an answer. There's no clear solutions