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Parental leave is the right to take time off work, paid or unpaid, to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes Maternity , Paternity , and Adoption leave. In most western countries parental leave is available for those who have worked for their current employer for a certain period of time. In the UK , for instance, working mothers are given the right to 26 weeks of paid leave for each child, 6 weeks at 90% of full pay and 20 weeks at a fixed amount. Women who were employed prior to the commencement of their pregnancy are entitled to an additional 26 weeks unpaid leave. After 1st April 2007, the rules changed. All female employees will be entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave. 39 weeks of this leave is paid, with the first six weeks paid at 90% of full pay and the remainder at a fixed rate. An example of generous parental leave is Sweden , where all working parents are entitled to 16 months' paid leave per child, the cost being shared between employer and State. To encourage greater paternal involvement in child-rearing, a minimum of 3 months out of the 18 is required to be used by the "minority" parent, in practice usually the father, and some Swedish Political Parties on the Left argue for legislation to oblige families to divide the 18 months equally between both parents. Norway also has a similarly generous leave. The system in Bulgaria is even more generous, providing mothers with 45 days 100% paid Sick Leave prior the due date, 2 years paid leave, and 1 additional year of unpaid leave. The employer is obliged to restore the mother to the same position upon return to work. In addition, pregnant women and single mothers cannot be fired. There is currently a push to expand paid maternity leave in countries such as Australia and the United States . One organization supporting paid maternity leave in the United States is Moms Rising . It is doing so by appealing to each state legislature individually to obtain maternity leave in that state. Additional information about family leave policies and movements within the United States is available at PaidFamilyLeave.org . In 2000, parental leave was greatly expanded in Canada from 10 weeks to 35 weeks divided between the two parents, which can be expanded to a year. In Canada parental leave is paid for by the Employment Insurance system. PARENTAL LEAVE RIGHTS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD ALL OF THE ABOVE TABLES ARE COMPILED FROM HTTP://WWW.APESMA.ASN.AU/WOMEN/MATERNITY_LEAVE_AROUND_THE_WORLD.ASP (COMPILED JUNE 2001), WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE EUROPEAN TABLE FROM HTTP://EC.EUROPA.EU/EURES/HOME.JSP?LANG=EN (TAKEN FROM THIS PAGE IN FEB 2006) AND HTTP://NEWS.BBC.CO.UK/1/HI/WORLD/EUROPE/4837422.STM (MARCH 2006). PATERNAL LEAVE RIGHTS COMPILED FROM SITE HAS BEEN GIVEN PRECEDENCE PLEASE NOTE THAT WHEN ENTRIES ARE NOT LISTED IN THE TABLE, IT IS BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT KNOWN AND NOT THAT THEY DO NOT EXIST. INFORMATION ON ICELANDIC PARENTAL LEAVE FROM HTTP://WWW.ALTHINGI.IS/LAGAS/132A/2000095.HTML INFORMATION ON SWEDISH PARENTAL LEAVE FROM HTTP://WWW.FORSAKRINGSKASSAN.SE/ Africa Americas Asia/Pacific Europe International Organizations As international organizations are not subject to the legislation of any country, they have their own internal legislation on parental leave. REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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