Catalyst President & CEO Lorraine Hariton was interviewed by the Associated Press in an article highlighting the US government’s recent move to extend paid parental leave to 2.1 million federal employees.
The benefit would give 12 weeks of paid leave to mothers and fathers of newborns, newly adopted children, and foster children. It is part of a defense bill passed by Congress this week that President Trump is expected to sign. Advocates are labeling it as an important and precedent-setting measure for expanding paid leave for public and private employees across the country.
The federal policy—which apparently does away with the distinction of a primary caregiver—falls in line with expectations that younger workers have about the parenting roles of men and women, said Lorraine Hariton, CEO of Catalyst, which works with top companies to promote women in the workplace. She said it also reflects the different types of families, including LGBT parents.
‘It’s the current best practice for a number of reasons,’ she said. Noting that her own son recently took the full four months offered to him by Microsoft to care for his newborn daughter, she added, ‘The more we have balance in sharing family responsibilities, the more we will enable women to be full participants in the workplace.’
Read more at the Associated Press.