Standpoints of reentry: A qualitative analysis of female maternity leaves with corporate communication implications

Abstract

Navigating motherhood is a complex and cumbersome task. Many women in contemporary society are electing to take on motherhood while maintaining full time employment, necessitating a maternity leave. Because the U.S. does not guarantee any paid leave, mothers are left to the mercy of their employers. The policies, attitudes, and approaches of these employers have a large influence on the wellbeing of not only the employee-mothers within the workplace, but outside of the workplace, and on the wellbeing of their children. This influence insinuates a large responsibility resting on the shoulders of employers to provide the best maternity leave experience as possible, not only for the benefit of the employer and the workplace, but also for the benefit of the families affected. For this reason, scholarly study is needed to analyze the needs of new mothers reentering the workplace in order to recommend corporate communication strategies that benefit all parties. The present study uses feminist standpoint theory to gather this data and make recommendations for this purpose.