Cartoon: "Maternity Leaveless"

So after a gazillion-year hiatus, I'm back (a bit) in political cartooning land. I've been collaborating with the husband (aka Masheka Wood) on a new series of cartoons for Women's eNews. Here's the latest, "Maternity Leaveless" (click through thumbnail to see the full-size piece):

Seriously, 30% of women in the U.S. take no maternity leave, and 40% take six weeks or less. It's not hard to guess why—we have the not-so-distinct distinction of being the only "economically advanced" country to offer no paid maternity leave whatsoever. (See Think Progress for a colorful and depressing infographic on this).

You might notice the women in this cartoon is breastfeeding—at least for now. It can be hard enough to get a good start feeding your kid when you have only 6-12 weeks at home to get things going, but with no maternity leave, that would mean an immediate need to ALSO wrestle with a breast pump, try to get pumping breaks, maintain supply, etc... Studies show that the longer breastfeeding moms get for leave, the longer they are able to successfully breastfeed and meet their breastfeeding goals.

I got 12 weeks leave myself, half of them paid. I had no trouble getting pumping breaks or a place to pump at work. By U.S. standards, I'm one of the lucky ones—but by global standards, that's not super impressive.