I do wonder where you come up with 3 months leave. I just gave birth 3 months ago and have been back at work for 8 weeks now. :) We get 6 weeks, as do most short term disability firms. The rest of the 3 months you can take UNPAID per FMLA. At least, that’s how it works here. So it’s not really like you’re getting 3 months of your salary. I got 6 weeks at 80% of salary paid thru my insurance.

Look forward to seeing you around!

BawldGuy :
Do I, as an employer have any rights? Or am I merely the Golden Goose/ATM machine? Women get to choose but I have no choice? Welcome to 1984.
BawldGuy´s last blog ..Munching On the Numbers – Thursday

Of course you have rights. However, you, like every business owner, will have to deal with laws of the country in which you work, the rules of the contracts you sign, and competition for employees and customers. If you choose to not provide any benefits for women who give birth, your company will be that much less competitive for workers, not only women, but men who want to work for a company that provides such benefits. You might also find your potential customers taking advantage of their rights to choose another company with whom to do business. If you offer maternity (or paternity, for matter) benefits to your employees and then try to withhold them or drop your employees for using them, you may find yourself facing your employee in court or getting a lot of unwanted publicity as result. If you try to avoid hiring women to avoid having to deal with potential pregnancies, you could find the government coming after you for discrimination, or facing angry hoards of protesters trying to change your policy (and did I mention having a tougher time finding employees?) If you can find ways to stay competitive while offering your employees the lowest level of maternity/paternity benefits required by law, good for you, but don’t be surprised if there’s some blow back.

Alright, onto FS’s questions. I think there’s a number of factors that come into play when looking at studies showing lower pay for women, some of which have already been covered. Women, if I may generalize a bit, do tend to spend more time away from work for family, opt for more benefits in exchange for lower pay, and choose lower paying careers. As to how we can close that gap, I don’t really know of a good way other than forcing employers to make up the difference (which seems more intrusive than I’d prefer).

There might be some managers who discount a woman’s salary for fear of potential childbearing, either due to their personal feelings or perhaps institutional policy (although the latter would seem to raise all kinds of potential legal qualms). But I think it’s more likely simply that time away from work leads to fewer raises and opportunities for promotion, causing a gap between male and female salaries later in working life. Extending paternity leave might help to level the playing field, but it’s far from a magic bullet; you’d have to force men to take as much time off to help raise children as women do in order to make everything work out.
Roger´s last blog ..Weekly Thoughts: Don’t Trust Petitions

Good luck with your first baby and hope to hear more of your thoughts in the future!