This is obviously a nice gesture by Nvidia but I always wonder how can it be legal to have different amounts for father/mothers? Are there no laws on discrimination based on sex in the US?
> how can it be legal to have different amounts for father/mothers? Are there no laws on discrimination based on sex in the US?
Well, the law does recognize that the person who just delivered a baby went through a lot harder time than the one who simply contributed the other half of the genetic material 9 months before.
After my wife gave birth, she breastfed every 3 hours (typical for a newborn) so that means very little sleep. Recovery from having pushed another human being through the birth canal (or from having the abdomen cut wide open) is not trivial.
Then there's the baby's bonding, which is primarily with the mom in the first few months.
Paternity leave is a great thing; as a dad I got to support my wife in child with all the household stuff. And there is not replacement for witnessing the first few months of one's child's life. That goes by so fast.
But as a dad, I recognize that the largest burden was born by my wife. Many trivialize the effort women go through but I think they are the unsung heros of humanity.
I'm a guy who just had a baby. I'm a pretty hands-on father. However, I have no problem for birth-givers (i.e. biological mom) getting more leave than men. In fact, it is a shame how bad mat leave is in most places. Even in Canada, it isn't full income replacement for a year .. there are a bunch of caveats.
It's a political 3rd rail. There are laws about discrimination based on sex in the US, but you generally get a lot of flack for pointing out the unfairness if it benefits women, which is mostly considered ok since it's making up for the many years that the discrimination went the other way (and I'm actually ok with that).
And to be fair, it's a hell of a lot harder on a birth mother than anyone else. You'll notice adoptive mothers in this policy only get the 12 week benefit too, so this one is already fairer than most.
Your use of "unfairness" sticks out to me, considering you go on to say you're OK with it. Are you actually OK with the disparity or do you think it's unfairness? Can't really be both.
Unfair can simply mean not the same. Dunno about GP but this is a pretty popular sentiment. Look at e.g. GitHub saying they won't consider racial or sexist behaviour, depending on who is the offender. Look at recent popular protests in the US, where leaders organize people on skin colour.
My wife had to take unpaid FMLA. I got 6 weeks paid. They even noticed she took 3 days too long and made a big deal out of it requiring her to come back exactly then end of the allowed FMLA time. This is still a step in the right direction. Plus giving birth is a little bit more difficult than my job as a dad.
I haven't seen any men breastfeeding lately. Nor do fathers regularly go through post natal depression or suffer the other ailments of pregnancy. I suggest you talk to some mothers (or your own) before making such absurdly informed assertions.
Not trying to imply that it doesn't. It is a stressful situation for everyone. But the rates in women are significantly higher. (Ironically being a stay at home mum can be isolating and it might be better for her health to go back to work...) One analysis also found a small be definite correlation between a mother being depressed and also the father. The incidence varies strongly depending on risk factors (smoking, obesity, poverty, trauma), form 10-25% in women, and about 5-10% in men (though men tend to under self report..).