I agree with you but to play devil's advocate, the women in the US who are most likely to get paid leave are in highly skilled salaried positions (which is also

I agree with you but to play devil's advocate, the women in the US who are most likely to get paid leave are in highly skilled salaried positions (which is also abhorrent in its own way). While it's definitely a good thing to have parents spend as much time as possible with their family, the economy would be better served by having these parents back in the workforce while a lower-skilled person takes care of the children during the day. I think the best way to have your cake and eat it too, in terms of overall economic productivity and parent-child bonding, is to subsidize childcare so that the economic incentive to stay home is removed. The choice to stay home would only be made with the consideration of the child in mind. Here in New York for example, we pay $25k on daycare per child. Depending on the parent's individual salaries, the gains in income vs childcare expenses becomes marginal after 2-4 children.