Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
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By Quentin Fottrell
Jeff Hayes, program director of job quality and income security at the Institute of Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said that 12 weeks paid family leave is the goal. “There are millions of women who get zero, so six weeks is better than nothing and, if it included fathers, that would be better,” he said. “But paid leave has been rarely mentioned since Trump took office.” Between maternity and parental leave, Germany offers working mothers up to 58 weeks of paid leave.
In his first official address to Congress last month, President Trump referred to “family” rather than “maternal” leave. “My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make child care accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health,” he told Congress. His existing maternity leave proposals would be paid through unemployment benefits to parents by those companies that don’t offer it.”