Comments on: Two Cheers for Domesticity http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:06:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: StevenThomas http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/comment-page-1/#comment-357 StevenThomas Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:28:44 +0000 http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/#comment-357 Sure, maternity leave is funnier than medical leave or parental leave. How about domestic leave? You're right about FMLA. It's bulldookey. Only wealthy women or women whose husband is the primary income-earner can afford unpaid leave. The United States government is one of the only governments in the world that doesn't realize this. Even Afghanistan and Iraq offer paid leave. And you're right that corporate American is way ahead of the curve -- way ahead of universities, that's for sure, as Jane Juffer demonstrates at length in her chapter on the corporate university in her book Single Mother. (Following Jeff Nealon's point that the corporate university isn't corporate enough.) And this is not just with regards to leave policy, but also with regards to having on-site daycare, diaper tables in some bathrooms, lactation rooms, etc. But of course, all this feeds back to the problem with FMLA and its class bias. Only the white-collar sector is this progressive. Not the blue-collar, pink-collar, or tweed-collar. Sure, maternity leave is funnier than medical leave or parental leave. How about domestic leave?

You’re right about FMLA. It’s bulldookey. Only wealthy women or women whose husband is the primary income-earner can afford unpaid leave. The United States government is one of the only governments in the world that doesn’t realize this. Even Afghanistan and Iraq offer paid leave.

And you’re right that corporate American is way ahead of the curve — way ahead of universities, that’s for sure, as Jane Juffer demonstrates at length in her chapter on the corporate university in her book Single Mother. (Following Jeff Nealon’s point that the corporate university isn’t corporate enough.) And this is not just with regards to leave policy, but also with regards to having on-site daycare, diaper tables in some bathrooms, lactation rooms, etc.

But of course, all this feeds back to the problem with FMLA and its class bias. Only the white-collar sector is this progressive. Not the blue-collar, pink-collar, or tweed-collar.

]]> By: topspun http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/comment-page-1/#comment-356 topspun Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:01:02 +0000 http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/#comment-356 Calling it "Family Medical leave" would disrupt the whole theme of enforced domesticity, Mr. Expert Reader. Hence, "maternity" leave. It's funnier. And it's paid. It was paid at former American Financial Institution, too. Corporate America tends to be ahead of the curve on these things, especially for particular classes of workers. We couldn't afford three months unpaid leave, which is what the FMLA guarantees, I think. The idea of FMLA is you don't get fired. Meh. Maybe I'm wrong. In the last post, I noted that I have a hard time paying attention to logistics. By the way, I was at class at 8:30 on the Tuesday morning after Rafe's birth, as always. Then again, I'm terribly useless as a parent anyway, so this wasn't a great sacrifice. :-) Calling it “Family Medical leave” would disrupt the whole theme of enforced domesticity, Mr. Expert Reader. Hence, “maternity” leave. It’s funnier. And it’s paid. It was paid at former American Financial Institution, too. Corporate America tends to be ahead of the curve on these things, especially for particular classes of workers. We couldn’t afford three months unpaid leave, which is what the FMLA guarantees, I think. The idea of FMLA is you don’t get fired. Meh. Maybe I’m wrong. In the last post, I noted that I have a hard time paying attention to logistics. By the way, I was at class at 8:30 on the Tuesday morning after Rafe’s birth, as always. Then again, I’m terribly useless as a parent anyway, so this wasn’t a great sacrifice. :-)

]]> By: steventhomas http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/comment-page-1/#comment-355 steventhomas Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:21:00 +0000 http://sevenred.net/2009/04/24/two-cheers-for-domesticity/#comment-355 Looks yummy. By the way, sorry to be annoyingly nit-picky, but I think we call it "family medical leave" now, not maternity leave, not just because the dad can get it too, but because I think in some cased it can apply to a lot of different family situations such as care for one's elderly parent or something like that. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/ Does _she_ get 3 months off paid or unpaid? In civilized countries, it's paid, but typically not in 'merica. Looks yummy.

By the way, sorry to be annoyingly nit-picky, but I think we call it “family medical leave” now, not maternity leave, not just because the dad can get it too, but because I think in some cased it can apply to a lot of different family situations such as care for one’s elderly parent or something like that.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

Does _she_ get 3 months off paid or unpaid? In civilized countries, it’s paid, but typically not in ‘merica.

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