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82% of Americans want paid maternity leave – making it as popular as chocolate

11 points by rustoo 5y ago

kasperni 5y ago
Out of 193 countries in the United Nations, only a small handful do not have a national paid parental leave law: New Guinea, Suriname, a few South Pacific island nations and the United States [1]. [1] https://www.npr.org/2016/10/06/495839588/countries-around-the-world-beat-the-u-s-on-paid-parental-leave https://www.npr.org/2016/10/06/495839588/countries-around-th...
schoen 5y ago
I don't have a good idea for how opinions polls should or shouldn't ask about costs and trade-offs, or how they should or shouldn't emphasize whether they did. In this case, the poll just asked people whether employers "should" offer this benefit, and particularly in the context of whether it should be offered to mothers and fathers, only to mothers, only to fathers, or to nobody. With this framing, a majority of respondents said "to mothers and fathers". You could also imagine a version that emphasized either the legal-compulsion part or the somebody-paying-for-it part, like "do you think the public should pay more taxes in order to fund parental leave?", "would you be willing to pay more taxes in order to fund parental leave?", or "do you think employers should pay for parental leave, even if they have to reduce other employees' compensation in order to afford it?". But from the priming point of view, all of these versions are encouraging people to think about a particular issue in responding. The version that was actually asked encouraged them to think about the potential unfairness in offering paid leave to mothers but not fathers. The versions I mentioned would encourage them to think about the costs to others, or where the money comes from. Another version might encourage them to think about benefits, like "studies show that paid parental leave improves outcomes for children and families; do you think it should be offered?". I know that these variants can produce huge differences in people's responses, because thinking about benefits makes people enthusiastic, thinking about removing a perceived unfairness makes people focus on that rather than on questioning the status quo in other ways, and thinking about risks and costs makes people worried about them. So I'm not sure whether there's such a thing as fair or neutral opinion polling, because it depends so much on what you think is relevant, or what's important for people to be taking into account.
- midasuni 5y ago
  In my country most professional jobs pay full salary for 6 months for maternity leave, that comes from the company, not the government (who only pay a small amount per week) The bigger question is why is the US one of about 3 countries that doesn’t offer maternity leave.
- melff 5y ago
  for a even clearer example of this problem compare polls about the "estate tax" and the "death tax". People are stupid.
falcolas 5y ago
Cool, do paternity leave next.
Proven 5y ago
99% of people want free shit, making it as popular as beer. Some insight. I couldn't come with that without my PhD degree in social studies.

11 points by rustoo 5y ago

Out of 193 countries in the United Nations, only a small handful do not have a national paid parental leave law: New Guinea, Suriname, a few South Pacific island nations and the United States [1]. [1] https://www.npr.org/2016/10/06/495839588/countries-around-the-world-beat-the-u-s-on-paid-parental-leave https://www.npr.org/2016/10/06/495839588/countries-around-th...

schoen 5y ago

I don't have a good idea for how opinions polls should or shouldn't ask about costs and trade-offs, or how they should or shouldn't emphasize whether they did. In this case, the poll just asked people whether employers "should" offer this benefit, and particularly in the context of whether it should be offered to mothers and fathers, only to mothers, only to fathers, or to nobody. With this framing, a majority of respondents said "to mothers and fathers". You could also imagine a version that emphasized either the legal-compulsion part or the somebody-paying-for-it part, like "do you think the public should pay more taxes in order to fund parental leave?", "would you be willing to pay more taxes in order to fund parental leave?", or "do you think employers should pay for parental leave, even if they have to reduce other employees' compensation in order to afford it?". But from the priming point of view, all of these versions are encouraging people to think about a particular issue in responding. The version that was actually asked encouraged them to think about the potential unfairness in offering paid leave to mothers but not fathers. The versions I mentioned would encourage them to think about the costs to others, or where the money comes from. Another version might encourage them to think about benefits, like "studies show that paid parental leave improves outcomes for children and families; do you think it should be offered?". I know that these variants can produce huge differences in people's responses, because thinking about benefits makes people enthusiastic, thinking about removing a perceived unfairness makes people focus on that rather than on questioning the status quo in other ways, and thinking about risks and costs makes people worried about them. So I'm not sure whether there's such a thing as fair or neutral opinion polling, because it depends so much on what you think is relevant, or what's important for people to be taking into account.

midasuni 5y ago
In my country most professional jobs pay full salary for 6 months for maternity leave, that comes from the company, not the government (who only pay a small amount per week) The bigger question is why is the US one of about 3 countries that doesn’t offer maternity leave.
melff 5y ago
for a even clearer example of this problem compare polls about the "estate tax" and the "death tax". People are stupid.

falcolas 5y ago

Cool, do paternity leave next.

Proven 5y ago

99% of people want free shit, making it as popular as beer. Some insight. I couldn't come with that without my PhD degree in social studies.