Many cultures have rules for new mothers and babies. The Latin American cuarentena and the Uzbek chilla represent 40 days of rest and social support. In China, women rest in bedfor a month; in Korea, for 21 days.
In the United States, however, the time for rest, bonding, and recovery often is determined not by tradition, or even by a doctor’s recommendations, but by the new mother’s employment situation.
This is certainly true for Tara, who asked me not to use her last name to protect her privacy and her job. She contacted me in late January 2016 via Facebook after watching myrecent TED talk on the case for paid parental leave in the United States. She wanted to tell me her story: She was nine months pregnant, working full time with a toddler at home. In the final days of her pregnancy, she was focused not just on her delivery day, but on another deadline: Tara would have to be back at work 20 days after giving birth.
[For more of this story, written by Jessica Shortall, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/bus...ernity-leave/470889/]
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