In essence, family-friendly policies have been a debated concept for the past couple of decades now. Apparently, different countries have different policies particularly on how motherhood is valued across cultures. Notably, family-friendly policies are the basic policies that make it easy or possible for employees to balance between family issues and work. Unlike other countries, the USA has a different way of approaching to the aspect of motherhood. For instance, the United States federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) assures rather 12 weeks of unpaid leave in such a situation including personal as well as family medical reasons. However, these opportunities are only available for workers who are employed in organizations that have a payroll of 50 or more (Sirc.org, 2018). In this light, in case one takes a leave then the employers will be waiting for the worker to return. In the contemporary American society, mothers are given the guarantee of maternity leave despite the fact that they are not paid within this period (Sirc.org, 2018). On the other hand, Finland approaches the issue of motherhood differently from the United States. Family-friendly policies in Finland allow mothers to take a maternity leave of 105 working days. Unlike United State, mothers are entitled maternity allowance payments.
Furthermore, Finland has a rather Family allowance policy that is divided into four components mainly, tax deductions, maternity benefits, child allowance, and housing allowance. Under this policy, Finnish families with children are guaranteed maternity benefits which are often claimed as maternity package or rather childcare items (Sirc.org, 2018). On the other hand, the United States does not have any coherent package of social policies that are aimed at benefiting families and children. However, there are general agreements by the United States that have consequences for children as well as their families.
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Primarily, the message portrayed by the famous Finnish ‘baby box’ has no doubt changed the world perspective on the aspect of motherhood and child care, particularly in the contemporary society. This tradition has been infamously adopted for nearly 80 years in the Finnish tradition and, therefore, allows families with babies regardless of the income they receive to get different packages for themselves (Sirc.org, 2018). Apparently, this box contains 50 vital products that are required particularly for the first years of a baby’s life (Sirc.org, 2018). However, these packages are more than just the material incentives as Finland is today ranked among countries that have the best maternity health care system in the world. This system has been adopted worldwide by countries such as the United Kingdom where they are known to live a rather Scandinavian style towards a family. This message compares to that of the United States in that mothers are not given that special care unlike in Finland (Sirc.org, 2018). Despite the fact that this tradition has not completely been adopted in the United States, some states like New Jersey have started offering baby boxes, particularly to all new parents. In this light, other states have started running trials for the same to provide a better motherhood care.
Finnish ‘baby box’ can only be reinforced by setting up government policies that are geared towards promoting family care, especially for mothers. Apparently, various governments across the globe have started to realize how supporting this idea is important to ensure that families are given the best support (Sirc.org, 2018). Government at any level can establish itself around being family-friendly by encouraging by-laws that supports this notion. Additionally, a government can support these messages by mandating business to institute family-friendly policies as well as mandating a health insurance plan for families.
References
Sirc.org. (2018). Contemporary Motherhood in Western Europe . [online] Available at: http://www.sirc.org/publik/motherhood_in_western_europe.shtml [Accessed 20 Aug. 2018].
