Parental Leaves in the Nordics: Inspiration for California?

Nordic countries are renowned for their generous parental leaves. All evidence suggests that these leaves bring a host of benefits including improved maternal and infant health (SDG #3), promoting gender equality (SDG #5), supporting economic benefits including a more robust and resilient labor force (SDG #8), and directly tackling issues of economic inequality (SDG #10). Despite these many known benefits, the United States is the only country in the developed world without guaranteed parental leaves. No longer satisfied with the status quo, innovative states like California and companies like IKEA are working to shift the paradigm to provide guaranteed parental leaves.