ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we continue on the journey toward an understanding of maternity leave as an organizational policy. First, we review the birthrate and fertility rate for the United States and the relationship of trends in these rates to employment patterns of women. Second, we examine the types of leave benefits offered by employers in higher education and in the pharmaceutical industry, as these policies are typical of those of the employers of the women interviewed for this project. Finally, we explore how these benefits first evolved and then devolved over the past 40 years, how women and men have utilized these policies, and how organizational actions and attitudes toward maternity leave policies have changed.
