Some of my answers don't seem to be in your choices.
As far as I know, my government doesn't give any kind of maternity or paternity benefits for births, unless you're on welfare, in which case you get a very slight increase in monthly cash and food, plus some food from WIC during and after the pregnancy.
But there are government grants of some sort and tax credits for adopting. I don't know the details, though, and I think it may depend on the details of the adoption. I do know that if you adopt a child from the foster care system, you get some government support for the child for a while.
Also as far as I know, the only employer benefit is unpaid parenting leave, which is the same regardless of whether it's an adoption or a birth.
My employer does provide domestic partner benefits.
I work as an actuarial analyst for a health insurance company.
When I receive benefits as an employee, I prefer better maternity and pregnancy coverage. Generally, I like my benefits to be at least as supportive of these things as I am, even if I don't plan to use them myself.
It was hard to answer these : a number of my answers aren't in your choices either :) My field used to be primarily men, and now is moving towards primarily women.
My office does not have a maternal benefits policy - because I don't think it's come up before. It's a very very small office, mostly run by gay men. I think when I get pregnant, I will be the first person to have had a baby at that office. So, I'll probably be the test case, honestly.
My field traditionally has crap benefits accross the board. Architects & LArchs are treated like shit and paid crappy salaries. There's a lot of swapping.
I have noticed that when people in my field move towards having kids, one of two things happens: they either work for a HUGE company that does boring work but has great benefits, OR they work for themselves.
Re: Government : are tax breaks benefits? What do you mean?
I started a reply to this, but it just kept growing, so I ended up posting it as a separate post in my own LJ (http://surelars.livejournal.com/165311.html). There's background info and more there.
I think that in general, where I live, the issue is not "right to parental leave", "Pay during parental leave" has been a major political issue for a number of years, and I like to think there's been good progress, so that many workplaces have full pay during parental leave (for 6-12 months).
The major political issue at this point is gender distribution of parental leave. While men here have the right to paternity leave, it's in genereal not much used. Parental leave still by and large translates to maternity leave. This has major implications for both children, family structure, gender issues of childcare, and women's position in the workplace. I consider this a key political and social target for action and change.
I didn't really know what to answer on the "ally" question. I'm not even sure what it means to be an ally. I do know that I consider gender issues and gender issues related to parenting of high political importance - quite irrespective of my own parenting situation.
I'm childless by choice (and old enough for it not to be an issue any more), but I've always supported and sometimes helped fight for better parental leave/benefits. US policy on this matter is marginally better than it was when I was a young woman, but only marginally. Much is left to the states, or to employers, to decide, resulting in wide differences and inequities.
In my own workplace - a major public university in a relatively progressive state - the benefits are considered pretty good by those who have need of them, and are applied equally to women and men. One interesting tool available to us: If a person's needs outlast their paid-leave limits, co-workers are permitted to donate all or part of their unused leave to help them out.
I'm pretty sure there's some kind of state-mandated family leave here in California, but I've never looked into the specifics. I work for a small company with a very reasonable boss, so if it ever comes up for me, I think it'll be OK. I know when my male coworker's second child was born earlier this year, he was out for a while, and then working from home for a while, and our boss cuts us all slack on when we arrive and leave, for almost any reason.
Which doesn't mean it's not an important issue in general, of course. I'm just not sure what the local laws are.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 06:32 am (UTC)As far as I know, my government doesn't give any kind of maternity or paternity benefits for births, unless you're on welfare, in which case you get a very slight increase in monthly cash and food, plus some food from WIC during and after the pregnancy.
But there are government grants of some sort and tax credits for adopting. I don't know the details, though, and I think it may depend on the details of the adoption. I do know that if you adopt a child from the foster care system, you get some government support for the child for a while.
Also as far as I know, the only employer benefit is unpaid parenting leave, which is the same regardless of whether it's an adoption or a birth.
My employer does provide domestic partner benefits.
I work as an actuarial analyst for a health insurance company.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 10:52 am (UTC)My office does not have a maternal benefits policy - because I don't think it's come up before. It's a very very small office, mostly run by gay men. I think when I get pregnant, I will be the first person to have had a baby at that office. So, I'll probably be the test case, honestly.
My field traditionally has crap benefits accross the board. Architects & LArchs are treated like shit and paid crappy salaries. There's a lot of swapping.
I have noticed that when people in my field move towards having kids, one of two things happens: they either work for a HUGE company that does boring work but has great benefits, OR they work for themselves.
Re: Government : are tax breaks benefits? What do you mean?
N.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 03:32 pm (UTC)I think that in general, where I live, the issue is not "right to parental leave", "Pay during parental leave" has been a major political issue for a number of years, and I like to think there's been good progress, so that many workplaces have full pay during parental leave (for 6-12 months).
The major political issue at this point is gender distribution of parental leave. While men here have the right to paternity leave, it's in genereal not much used. Parental leave still by and large translates to maternity leave. This has major implications for both children, family structure, gender issues of childcare, and women's position in the workplace. I consider this a key political and social target for action and change.
I didn't really know what to answer on the "ally" question. I'm not even sure what it means to be an ally. I do know that I consider gender issues and gender issues related to parenting of high political importance - quite irrespective of my own parenting situation.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 04:31 pm (UTC)In my own workplace - a major public university in a relatively progressive state - the benefits are considered pretty good by those who have need of them, and are applied equally to women and men. One interesting tool available to us: If a person's needs outlast their paid-leave limits, co-workers are permitted to donate all or part of their unused leave to help them out.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 10:24 pm (UTC)Which doesn't mean it's not an important issue in general, of course. I'm just not sure what the local laws are.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-27 11:27 pm (UTC)The adoption question answered with the reservation that the adopted child must be under ten years old.