Stalled numbers do not bode well.

• Position: Maternity Leave - Brief article

The number of U.S. women taking maternity leave has not changed in more than 20 years despite factors that suggest it should be increasing, maintains a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. During the same time, the number of fathers taking paternity leave more than tripled, although the numbers are much smaller than those of women taking time off.

About 273,000 women in the U.S. took maternity leave on average each month since 1994, with no trend upwards or downwards. Fewer than half of them were paid during their leave. During that time, however, the U.S. economy grew 66% and three states (California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) enacted and implemented paid family leave legislation.

"Given the growing economy and the new state laws, I expected to see an increasing number of women taking maternity leave," says study author Jay Zagorsky, research scientist at the Center for Human Resource Research. "It was surprising and troubling that I didn't.

"There's a lot of research that shows the benefits of allowing parents, especially mothers, to spend time with newborn children. Unfortunately, the...