If Europeans, Canadians, Australians, etc. can do it, so can we.

[pampango]

Workplace benefits were not handed to them. They had to defeat the right. We have to do the same.

European countries are far more generous to workers than the U.S., although variations exist within the region. Denmark, France and Spain rank at the top, while Ireland, Switzerland and the U.K. are the region's least generous, the study found.

Every country in the European Union offers at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, for example, but some offer more than others. The U.K. and Ireland offer the longest periods, at 52 weeks and 42 weeks, respectively. Germany and Sweden, on the other hand, offer the minimum of 14 weeks.

"The U.S., in sharp contrast, has no general provision for paid maternity leave," the report noted. "However employed mothers may take advantage of short-term disability benefits offered at the state/federal level and many employers are instituting their own generous programs to attract and retain employees."