Paid family and medical leave is getting all the attention right now, and there is no doubt that the United States needs to catch up to the rest of the world. Offering federal paid benefits to parents or caretakers to assist with new child responsibilities or care for those long-term illnesses can help everyone. But for federal paid family and medical leave to work to its truest potential, we need to start with federal paid sick leave.
Too often women’s health is immediately confined to maternity, sexual, and reproductive health. If they are lucky enough to have family and maternal leave benefits, women are barely allowed to take sick time from work to care for the health of others. While similar, the two types of leave are separate. But what about when women need time to tend to their own health? Viewing women’s health exclusively through the lens of maternity and childbirth excludes women who are not cisgender.
Like paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave is beneficial regardless of gender, but women could benefit from it the most. Our society undervalues women, but “at least” tends to place more value on women if they are mothers. This current recognition is far from enough, and the idea that maternity leave can be classified as a short-term disability is highly problematic. However, it is equally important to break free from the idea that children are the expectation and end goal—or that having children is even possible for everyone.
After all, shouldn’t women be able to take care of their own health so they can decide if motherhood is right for them? And shouldn’t taking care of one’s health be accessible to all women, not just those who make a certain amount of money or women who work in certain industries? Women deserve time to care for themselves unconditionally, regardless of where they work, their level of income, or whether they have dependents.
Evidence shows that individuals with paid sick leave are more likely to access preventative services (i.e., visiting their primary care provider, going to the dentist, getting Pap smears, or influenza vaccines) when compared to those who do not have access to paid sick leave. Without paid sick leave and even with health insurance, people are more likely to skip prescription refills or delay necessary treatments.
But it is likely not a choice anyone wants to make to forego any of these services, and it is telling who must make this “choice.” Those who do not have paid sick leave tend to be younger, low-income workers, part-time workers, and people—especially women—who are not white. Many don’t have the luxury to choose between a day’s wages (“Do I feed myself? Pay rent?”) or being able to take care of their health. Preventative services can promote health, but only if people have the time to access and use them before these problems compound into something extremely costly or potentially deadly.
Those who already have paid sick leave tend to be older, work high-income jobs, and have comprehensive health insurance. As a result, they are less likely to feel the pressure between deciding to take a day off to take care of their health or losing out on money. And they might not even realize that paid sick leave, which is currently determined by employers or the state one resides in, is not a guarantee.
Paid sick leave is essential to women’s health. It addresses those who hold up society but are often invisible. They are women and nonbinary folk, and especially those who either choose not to have children or cannot bear the children they want. They are the women who care for family members in need at home after long days of caring for others in medical facilities.
A woman’s ability to take the time they need to care for their health should never come at the expense of lost income, nor depend on the income they make or the industry they work in.
Cecille Joan Avila is a Boston University School of Public Health policy analyst. A former photojournalist, she now writes about domestic health policy issues.
