Getting Off the Mommy Track: An International Model Law Solution to the Global Maternity Discrimination Crisis

Abstract

Women's roles in workplaces around the globe have been growing steadily for the past half-century. Yet, in everything from pay to advancement, workplace gender discrimination persists, much of it based on women's unique role as child bearers. Of the countless domestic and international efforts to address maternity discrimination, none has been completely successful. Drawing from the history of maternity leave legislation and the examples of domestic and international regimes, this Note proposes a unique solution to an international problem: an international model law. The Global Maternity Protection Act model law proposed here provides global protection for a global problem and aims to make all women equal by providing all women with the same benefits and protections, regardless of nationality. A model law solution is easily adopted and enforced and provides universal equality, a combination of objectives that is unattainable through legislation that is either purely domestic or purely international.