One of the first things that struck me when I arrived in July was just how many pregnant women there seemed to be.
There were many women out and about with small children, too. Coming from the United States, where most maternity clothes are meant to hide the pregnant belly for as long as possible, it was a refreshing change to see so many pregnant women out in public life.
I subscribe to third-wave feminism, which promotes women having choices regardless of whether women choose traditional things like motherhood or modern, feminist things like having a career or try to juggle both! With birth rates low enough to not replace population decreases due to mortality, it makes sense that Estonia would have policies encouraging women to give birth.
This is, perhaps surprisingly, better than the situation in the US , where maternity leave is not guaranteed at the federal government level, and most states do not offer job protection or paid leave for women who wish to have children.
And paternity leave? Practically unheard of in the US, unfortunately. More options for women β meaning, not having to sacrifice their careers in case they want to have children β generally means more gender equity. It also seems that young people in Estonia receive a good amount of sex education in schools. Especially in a country where wages are, overall, considered to be on the low side compared to the rest of the EU.
