ABSTRACT
This project was started with the goal of “understanding” maternity leave, in both policy and practice, in the United States. It is a subject that is both complicated and complex. We have come to understand, through listening to young mothers about their personal and professional experiences and perceptions of using maternity leave, why it is that they deserve access to a reasonable length of paid maternity leave. The two conversations recounted in Chapter 1 were not anomalies. Both overt and covert discrimination does exist against women who utilize the benefits provided and allowed by their organizations.
