To My Lovely Classmates…

Shifting the conversation now to my lovely WGST classmates and knowledgeable feminists, I am going to talk about why I chose parental leave as my research topic for the quarter – more specifically the issue of maternity rights and harmful parental expectations assigned to us based off of our genders. For those of us who are women, motherhood is a concept that has been instilled in our minds all throughout our lives, even as early infants. I’m sure we can relate to the typical birthday gifts of baby dolls, play-strollers, and toddler kitchens that encouraged us to take up the role of a responsible caregiver (at an age that is ironically dependent on 24-7 care). Or how about during adolescence, when our father’s forbid us to be alone in a room with a boy, meanwhile our brother receives no reprimanding for bringing a girl in his under the excuse of “well you can get pregnant”. Or what about entering the working world, when we suddenly our marital status becomes important in the hiring process, or we come home from a long day of work expecting to now cook for the entire family. Now that I have the sociological vocabulary to voice how these unequal expectations of parenthood is particularly harmful on women, I feel it is my social responsibility to voice these realizations in a persuasive and educated manner to individuals who don’t possess this voice yet. In addition, the issue over unequal gender expectations and parental leave is not only my reality, but the reality of all women I know (including most of our class). I also believe establishing equal expectations on both men and women in regards to parenting can help working individuals (both men and women) integrate family life and working life without having to sacrifice one. 

Through my research on parental leave, I hope to get a better understanding of the differing policies on maternity and paternity leave throughout the globe, how different nations view the roles of men and women in society, and what kind of policies will help to hold BOTH men and women accountable for being parents (if they choose to have a family). In addition, I want to find out ways in which both men and women could benefit from equal parental leave. Even though this is a women’s issue, and solving a women’s issue shouldn’t need to have a benefit to men in order to be considered legitimate or worthy of solving, pushing for equal parental leave is most effective and convincing if put into the context of men’s benefits. Lastly, I want to empower women who feel as though they need to sacrifice their career to be a mother, and call men to action in convincing them to step up as fathers and create a family culture that allows for parenting AND expanding each other’s career ambitions.