Jessica Alba is a quite a woman. Besides being a well-known actress, Alba is the business mogul known for founding The Honest Company, a personal care products brand she started in 2011.
Since inception, Alba’s company has been an enormous success. Today, the brand is valued close to $1 billion.
But even with the pressure of managing careers in business and entertainment, Alba seems to take it all in stride. What’s more, Alba is a wife and mother of three, so besides running a billion dollar company and being an A-list actress, she also has to make time for family.
Alba understands the difficulties of being a mother and having a full-time career. She also believes that paid maternity leave is an essential component for working women.
So in support of International Women’s Day, Alba chose to #PressforProgress and support gender parity by speaking out about the importance of paid maternity leave.
In an article posted on her LinkedIn page, Alba discusses her own experiences, the challenges of being a mother at work, and talks about what it’s like to “navigate the complexities of maternity leave.”
In her post, Alba makes an excellent case for paid maternity leave.
“By extending support for working mothers, not only do we allow them to thrive, but businesses are also more likely to retain those valuable employees.”
She also lists many other benefits that result from paid maternity leave.
“Bottom line: paid maternity leave simply makes it easier for women to stay in their jobs after giving birth and can help increase the percentage of women in the workforce. Beyond that, studies have shown tangible health benefits to both children and mothers, including lower infant mortality rate, extending the duration of breastfeeding as well as positive effects on the mother’s mental health.”
As logical, caring individuals, how we can disagree?
Forget the business benefits. We must offer paid maternity leave to honor women, both for their role in business, and additionally, as mothers.
Of course, not every business can support a maternity program right away. However, as a society we have the opportunity to drive the conversation forward, pushing each day for greater gender equality inside the workplace and beyond.