Recent family-related news included a look at the existence of widespread pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, research concerning stay-at home dads, the devastating effects on children when they are separated from their parents, the effect of divorce on one’s physical health and a rarity — a world leader gives birth while in office.
Pregnancy Discrimination Is Rampant Inside America’s Biggest Companies Natalie Kitoeff and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, The New York Times, June 15, 2018 Many of the country’s largest and most prestigious companies still systematically sideline pregnant women. They pass them over for promotions and raises. They fire them when they complain.
Stay-at-Home Dads Still Struggle with Diapers, Drool, Stigma and Isolation Jason Beaubien, NPR, June 17, 2018 The number of men in the United States who are full-time, stay-at-home parents has risen steadily in recent decades, from maybe a million or so in 1984, according to a Pew Research Center estimate, to roughly double that in 2014. Researchers who study stay-at-home parents say that difficulty in making social connections seems to be one of the biggest obstacles dads face. In many parts of the country there are so few men doing this that they have a tough time finding each other.
What Separation from Parents Does to Children: The Effect is Catastrophic William Wan, The Washington Post, June 18, 2018 This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents…Their heart rate goes up. Their body releases a flood of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Those stress hormones can start killing off dendrites — the little branches in brain cells that transmit messages. In time, the stress can start killing off neurons and — especially in young children — wreaking dramatic and long-term damage, both psychologically and to the physical structure of the brain.
Why Divorce is Bad for Your Health Maria LaMagna, Marketwatch, June 18, 2018 Divorcees are more likely to have a range of chronic health conditions than married people… However, divorce doesn’t have to lead to poor health outcomes, the researchers of the latest study said. Quality of life can actually improve for people who have ended relationships that are unhealthy for them.
New Zealand’s Leader Jacinda Ardern Delivers a Baby Girl Charlotte Graham-McLay, The New York Times, June 21, 2018 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Thursday, making her the first world leader in almost three decades to give birth while in office. Her pregnancy announcement prompted a national conversation about working mothers, and an international reckoning about the rarity of pregnant women in the world’s corridors of power. Ms. Ardern will take six weeks of parental leave before returning to work, at which point her partner Clarke Gayford, the host of a television show about fishing, will become a stay-at-home parent.
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