Elite medical schools ignore parental leave initiatives

Parents looking for doctor-recommended paid parental leave shouldn’t turn to the nation’s renown Medical Schools; the average paid leave in medical schools across the country is only about eight weeks, far short of the 12 weeks minimum recommended by medical authorities, and is so low it’s jeopardizing the wellbeing of doctors, according to a new study.

Dr. Christina Mangurian of the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine authored a study that sent shockwaves through the medical community after it revealed that medical schools were falling far short of their own parental leave recommendations, according to Reuters.

Dr. Mangurian claimed that the paid parental leave policies throughout the nation’s medical schools weren’t only insufficient to meet parent’s needs, but were sexist, too, explicitly disadvantaging women in the workplace.

“We are surprised that the average paid leave across schools was only about eight weeks,” Dr. Mangurian told Reuters, noting that the oft-championed figure of at least 12 weeks of paid leave would be far more beneficial for parents and children alike.

Do as they say, not as they do?

Paid parental leave can have a massive impact on infant mortality rates, according to one 2011 study, but it has far-ranging implications that affect more than just the newborn children, too.

Research by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee has asserted that paid parental leave is vital for economic growth as well as the wellbeing of parents and children alike, for instance.

Setting an example

Do not look just at the nation’s top 12 medical schools expecting to see an example being set, however; Dr. Mangurian’s study found that some schools offered as little as six weeks of paid parental leave to parents in all cases, with the average being only slightly better, at 8.6 weeks. Only four schools of the 12 examined, including those offering MCAT tutoring, provided more than eight weeks, and most paid leave policies were left to the discretion of supervisors, according to Dr. Mangurian’s study.

The study raises questions about workplace equality, too; paid leave improves the financial security of disadvantaged groups typically left behind when the economy grows, according to the Joint Economic Committee’s research, and is particularly vital for establishing equality between women and men in the workplace.