— Olivia Wilde on the unfortunate spelling of her real last name. Imagine that on a director’s chair.
Baby Boom
Mat Leave Backslide
What's going on: Shoko Kawata, the mayor of Yawata, Japan, is about to make history… again. She’s her city’s first female mayor, and now she is set to become Japan’s first elected official to take maternity leave. After Kawata's announcement, she was flooded with support. And, this may shock you, but there were also some men with opinions. One politician called it “a long vacation.” Sir. Please. Japan’s maternity leave policies cover six weeks before the expected birth date and up to eight weeks after birth. Public employees are eligible, but elected officials aren’t specifically covered — maybe because less than 4% of municipal leaders are women. Another female mayor in Japan chimed in, telling The New York Times, “Taking leave should not be news.” And yet.
Clocking back in: While this high-profile debate plays out in Japan, the Trump admin has been encouraging American women to have more children — even though the US is still the only wealthy country in the world that does not mandate paid parental leave. (Props to all the moms pumping at work.) And, the corporate leave that does exist is disappearing. Deloitte and Zoom recently cut their benefits, and new data shows that parental leave policies in the US are down 18% in recent years. One editorial supporting Kawata said, “Japan needs to create an environment in which people can take that leave as a matter of course.” Louder for the men in the back.
