Major Parenting Issue

Parents in the workplace: Why is taking time off for your kids so controversial? America's backwards system

Americans are known for having a prodigious, deeply ingrained work ethic. Our love of industry and productivity is so culturally embedded, in fact, that you might even say Americans learn it at birth — or shortly thereafter, when most new parents go back to work. Unlike the overwhelming majority of other developed nations, the United States doesn’t require workers to take time off after welcoming a new baby.

In fact, the U.S. is one of just four countries in the world that fails to offer its workers paid parental leave.

The United States’ closest attempt at legalized job leave — the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) — is a far cry from the post-partum time off mandated in other western nations, such as Australia or Sweden, or in poorer countries like Afghanistan, Mongolia, or Brazil. While many other countries offer new mothers an average of 15 to 16 fully paid weeks off —with ample leave for new fathers as well— the FMLA gives employees the option to only spend up to 12 weeks away from the office following the birth of a child.

That is, up to 12 weeks unpaid.

In fact, the U.S. is one of just four countries in the world that fails to offer its workers paid parental leave.

For a large number of Americans, taking an unpaid three-month leave means taking a huge financial hit. Because only a small proportion of employers offer paid parental leave (about 16 percent), many employees are forced to rely on public assistance or take on substantial debt when starting a family.

And even when companies do offer paid leave for both men and women, new fathers are often less likely to take full advantage of their time off than working moms. Why is that?

Lauren Weber of the Wall Street Journal suggests that lingering stereotypes keep many new fathers at their desks when they could be with their babies. She found that many men who openly identify as active parents “face pressure or resentment from co-workers” and can be “seen as distracted and less dedicated to their work.” The stigma these fathers face in the workplace, Weber points out, originates with “the same perception that harms career prospects for many working mothers” as well.

Weber isn’t alone in her thinking: as one writer for the Guardian points out, the notion of women as primary caregivers hasn’t gone away, despite the ever-increasing number of dual-income households in the U.S. and across the globe. And, it seems, when female breadwinners are the ones expected to leave the workplace — but new fathers simply don’t have the option — American workers lose a lot of flexibility.

The U.S. Parent Solution

So then, what’s the solution? We can’t know for sure what’s good for every employee, but we can look at the statistics.

As Weber writes, “a growing body of research shows that longer paternity leaves carry long-term benefits” for workers and families; men who get to take advantage of paternity leave tend to be more involved in their children’s lives, while women are more likely to return to their jobs when policies are equitable.

Democrats and Republicans alike feel a need to reform the current system.

In addition to the gains associated with expanding parental leave opportunities, companies can make up for the losses they suffer not offering it: current policies come at an indirect, inefficient cost to employers that they could instead address strategically, by making family leave a deliberate part of a company’s financial planning.

And, on top of everything else, it looks as if family leave might be one of the few things on which we can get legislators from both sides of the aisle to agree. Democrats and Republicans alike feel a need to reform the current system, and both California and New Jersey have enacted changes on the statewide level. So, in voters’ view — the view of American workers — parental leave for women and men is something we should be talking about, at the very least.

With that in mind, we might consider how the miracle of bipartisan agreement can help employees celebrate the miracle of life.

Jenny Kutner is a writer, Texan, and recent transplant to New York City. Her work has been featured on Salon.com and can be found at www.jennykutner.com. Follow her on Twitter @JennyKutner.

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pet protection

What Texas pet owners need to know about the dangerous New World screwworm

Photo by Helena Jankovičová Kováčová/Pexels

Make sure these guys are up on their flea and tick meds.

Two New World screwworm cases in dogs are among more than 30 confirmed instances in Texas and New Mexico, prompting warnings Wednesday, July 8 from veterinarians and humane societies that pet owners need to remain vigilant to protect their animals.

The parasite reappeared in cattle in the U.S. in June, more than 50 years after it had been largely eradicated from the country. The pest is actually the larvae of the New World screwworm fly. It eats live flesh and fluids rather than dead material, as the larvae of most fly species do.

Here is what to know about the parasite, the threat it poses to pets and how to protect them:

Screwworm fly larvae can infest any mammal
The fly's migration north from Panama starting in 2024, and through Mexico in 2025, has agriculture officials warning that it poses a threat to the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry, but the larvae can hatch and breed in any mammal, including wildlife, dogs, cats and occasionally humans.

The problem develops when a female fly lays its eggs in open wounds and mucus. After the eggs hatch, the larvae feed for about a week before maturing, dropping to the ground and continuing to develop into an adult fly.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says newborn animals and animals with open wounds or who have undergone surgery or other medical procedures recently are especially vulnerable. Even a tick bite can host an infestation, Aaron Grady, executive director of the Houston Humane Society shelter, said during a webinar on the screwworm.

Screwworm fly The goal is to stop these flies from successfully breeding.Photo by U.S. Department of Agriculture

Infestation signs include restlessness and bad smell
Animal health experts say pet owners in areas where the screwworm is present — southern and southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico so far — should watch their animals closely and examine them for wounds, cuts and bites regularly.

Pet owners should look for any maggots or movement in a wound. Other signs include a foul smell and restlessness or anxiety in an animal, or an animal “hyper-fixating on looking or chewing in a certain area of the body," said Melissa Stansell, a veterinarian at the shelter Austin Pets Alive!

Any one of those is reason enough to go to a veterinarian. The affected animal is likely in a great deal of pain, and that can cause death from shock. The larvae also can cause death if they move into vital organs or by causing infections that turn deadly.

Flea, tick medications can stop an infestation
Humane society officials and veterinarians said shelters across Texas are trying to prevent infestations in animals by giving them prescription flea and tick medications. They recommend that pet owners do the same.

“It will kill the larvae as they ingest the blood and tissue,” Stansell said. “The chemical compositions of those products are what kill the actual larval stages of these flies.”

Veterinarians also can treat infestations and animals can recover if pet owners contact them quickly. Stansell said the treatment could include antibiotics.

“It is only fatal if left untreated,” she said.

An effort to eradicate the fly again is underway
The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species and decades ago would disappear each year when colder weather arrived with the fall or winter.

But state and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials aren't waiting for the weather to turn. They've returned to an eradication method that worked decades ago, breeding sterile male flies and releasing them into the wild. The female New World screwworm fly mates once in her monthslong life, and if her partner is sterile, her eggs won't hatch — causing the population in an area to drop and then disappear.

For years, the only factory breeding sterile flies in the Western Hemisphere was in Panama, but the USDA invested $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico from breeding fruit flies to recently start breeding screwworm flies. The agency also plans to spend $750 million on a new fly factory in Texas, set to open next year.

screwworm fly pets