NOTES FROM MONTENEGRO
We Don’t Even Know What Maternity Leave Really Is in America
I am in Montenegro, part of the former Yugoslavia, for six weeks. (I fell in love during the pandemic. It’s a long story.) Tonight, I had dinner with a woman who explained to me what happens here when a woman is pregnant: she gets one year “maternity leave” to stay home and nurture her child. That leave is paid for by the government. And when the year is up, her job must be waiting for her when she returns. Oh, and before she has the baby, she gets nine months of “maternity maintenance” (that was the best Google could come up with when we translated the term) to care for herself so that the pregnancy is as smooth as possible for both baby and mother. That too is paid for by the government. So, in case you’re not a math nerd, that’s 21 months of paid leave. At full salary. I told her America has no federal policy to guarantee any paid leave. Zero. Her response: “Ohmygod! No! What do women do?” She was horrified, as if I were visiting her from a backward 15th-century village. Also, our dinner cost €12 ($14).
Why is this post so pretty? Because I am wide awake and graphic design calms me. It’s 7am here, and I have been up for 23 hours straight, because my body apparently cannot handle International travel nor the intense levels of caffeine in a Montenegrin espresso.
