title: IB Diploma Programme

text: The IB is developing a pilot online version of the IBDP and currently offers several online courses to IBDP students. Eventually, it expects to offer online courses to any student who wishes to register. Additionally, the IB has developed pilot courses that include World Religions; Sports, Exercise and Health Sciences, Dance, and a transdisciplinary pilot course, Literature and Performance, Global Politics. These pilot courses have now become part of the mainstream courses.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: All subjects (with the exception of CAS) are evaluated using both internal and external assessors. The externally assessed examinations are given worldwide in May (usually for Northern Hemisphere schools) and in November (usually for Southern Hemisphere schools). Each exam usually consists of two or three papers, generally written on the same or successive weekdays. The different papers may have different forms of questions, or they may focus on different areas of the subject syllabus. For example, in Chemistry SL, paper 1 has multiple choice questions, paper 2 has extended response questions. Paper 3 focuses on the "Option(s)" selected by the teacher and data analysis questions. The grading of all external assessments is done by independent examiners appointed by the IB.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: The nature of the internal assessment (IA) varies by subject. There may be oral presentations (used in languages), practical work (in experimental sciences and performing arts), or written work. Internal assessment accounts for 20 to 50 percent of the mark awarded for each subject and is marked by a teacher in the school. A sample of at least five per subject at each level from a school will also be graded by a moderator appointed by the IB, in a process called external moderation of internal assessment. Based on this moderation, the grades of the whole subject from that school will change.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: Points are awarded from 1 to 7, with 7 being equal to A*, 6 equal to A, and so on. Up to three additional points are awarded depending on the grades achieved in the extended essay and theory of knowledge, so the maximum possible point total in the IBDP is 45. The global pass rate for the IB diploma is approximately 80%. In order to receive an IB diploma, candidates must receive a minimum of 24 points or an average of four (or C) out of a possible seven points for six subjects. Candidates must also receive a minimum of 12 points from their Higher Level subjects and a minimum of 9 points from their Standard Level subjects. Additionally, candidates must complete all of the requirements for the EE, CAS and TOK. Failing conditions that will prevent a student from being awarded a diploma, regardless of points received, are non-completion of CAS, more than three scores of 3 or below (HL or SL), more than two scores of 2 or below (HL or SL), a score of 1 in any subject (HL or SL), not meeting the specific points required for Higher Level (12) or Standard Level (9) subjects, grade "E" awarded for theory of knowledge and/or the extended essay, or a penalty for academic misconduct from the Final Award Committee.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: Candidates who successfully complete all the requirements of the IB Diploma Programme and one or more of the following combinations are eligible to receive a bilingual diploma: two Group 1 subjects (of different languages), a Group 3 or 4 subject taken in a language other than the candidate's Group 1 language, or an Extended Essay in a Group 3 or Group 4 subject written in a language other than the candidate's Group 1 language. IB transcripts are issued to indicate completion of diploma courses and exams for non-diploma candidate students.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: Where standard assessment conditions could put a student with special educational needs at a disadvantage, special arrangements may be allowed. The "Candidates with Special Assessment Needs "publication contains information regarding procedures and arrangements for students with special needs.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: To offer the IB Diploma Programme, an institution must go through an application process, and during that period the teachers are trained in the IB. At the end of the application process, IB conducts an authorisation visit.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: Once a school is authorised to offer the programme, an annual fee ensures ongoing support from the IB, legal authorisation to display the IB logo, and access to the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC) and the IB Information System (IBIS). The OCC provides information, resources, and support for IB teachers and coordinators. IBIS is a database employed by IB coordinators. Other IB fees also include student registration and individual diploma subject examination fees.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: The IB diploma is accepted in 75 countries at over 2,000 universities, and the IB has a search directory on its website, although it advises students to check recognition policies directly with each university. The IB also maintains a list of universities offering scholarships to IBDP graduates under conditions specified by each institution, including 58 colleges and universities in the United States. The following is an overview of university recognition policies in various countries.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: The IBDP was described as "a rigorous, off-the-shelf curriculum recognized by universities around the world" on 10 December 2006, edition of "Time" magazine, in an article titled "How to bring our schools out of the 20th century". It was also featured in the summer 2002 edition of "American Educator," where Robert Rothman described it as "a good example of an effective, instructionally sound, exam-based system". Howard Gardner, a professor of educational psychology at Harvard University, said that the IBDP curriculum is "less parochial than most American efforts" and helps students "think critically, synthesize knowledge, reflect on their own thought processes and get their feet wet in interdisciplinary thinking". An admissions officer at Brown University has claimed the IBDP garners widespread respect.


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: In the United Kingdom, the IBDP is "regarded as more academically challenging but broader than three or four A-levels", according to an article in "The Guardian". In 2006, government ministers provided funding so that "every local authority in England could have at least one centre offering sixth-formers the chance to do the IB".


title: IB Diploma Programme

text: In the United States, criticism of the IBDP has centered on the vague claim that it is anti-American, according to parents anonymously quoted in "The New York Times", who objected to the program's funding from UNESCO in its early years. The base cost is considered to be higher than other programs. In 2012, the school board in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, voted to eliminate all IB programmes in the district because of low participation and high costs.


title: Parental leave

text: Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave" to describe separate family leave available to either parent to care for small children. In some countries and jurisdictions, "family leave" also includes leave provided to care for ill family members. Often, the minimum benefits and eligibility requirements are stipulated by law.


title: Parental leave

text: Unpaid parental or family leave is provided when an employer is required to hold an employee's job while that employee is taking leave. Paid parental or family leave provides paid time off work to care for or make arrangements for the welfare of a child or dependent family member. The three most common models of funding are government-mandated social insurance/social security (where employees, employers, or taxpayers in general contribute to a specific public fund), employer liability (where the employer must pay the employee for the length of leave), and mixed policies that combine both social security and employer liability.


title: Parental leave

text: Parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental program for many years, in one form or another. In 2014, the International Labour Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories, and found that all countries except Papua New Guinea have laws mandating some form of parental leave. A different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96% offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 44% of those countries offered the same for fathers. The United States, Papua New Guinea, and a few island countries in the Pacific Ocean (namely the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Tonga) are the only 7 countries in the United Nations that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents. Private employers sometimes provide either or both unpaid and paid parental leave outside of or in addition to any legal mandate.


title: Parental leave

text: Jeremiah Carter and Martha Nussbaum have developed a political model known as the capabilities approach, where basic freedoms and opportunities are included in economic assessments of a country's well-being, in addition to GDP. Nussbaum proposed 11 central capabilities as the minimum requirement for a decent society. In Nussbaum's model, states should provide the resources and freedoms to ensure people have the opportunity to achieve a minimum threshold of each central capability. Universal, paid parental leave is an example resource states can provide so people have the option of starting a family while also working; for instance, under capacity 10 (control of one's environment), the state has a responsibility to ensure all people have "the right to seek employment on an equal basis with others."


title: Parental leave

text: Paid parental leave incentivizes labor market attachment for women both before and after birth, affecting GDP and national productivity, as the workforce is larger. Parental leave increases income at the household level as well by supporting dual-earner families.


title: Parental leave

text: Paid parental leave incentivizes childbirth, which affects the future workforce. It is thus argued that paid parental leave, in contrast to unpaid parental leave, is harmful to children's welfare because in countries with an aging workforce or countries with sub-replacement fertility, children are born not because the parents want the child and can meet the child's needs but because children are expected to support their parents. Some see children as responsible for supporting all those in older generations in the society (not just the child's specific parents); their earnings are expected not to be saved for the children's own old age, but to be spent on the earlier generations' demand for social security and pensions for which there was inadequate savings.


title: Parental leave

text: The neoclassical model of labor markets predicts that, if the cost of hiring women of child-bearing years is anticipated to increase (either because the employer is mandated to pay for maternity leave or because she will be absent from work on public leave), then the "demand" for women in the labor market will decrease. While gender discrimination is illegal, without some kind of remedy the neoclassical model would predict "statistical discrimination" against hiring women of child-bearing years. To counteract this, some countries have introduced policies to increase rates of paternity leave to spread the cost impact more evenly across the labor market.


title: Parental leave

text: If women take long parental leaves, the neoclassical model would predict that their lifetime earnings and opportunities for promotion will be less than their male or childfree counterparts—the "motherhood penalty". Women may seek out employment sectors that are "family-friendly" (i.e., with generous parental leave policies), resulting in occupational sex segregation. Nielsen, Simonsen, and Verner examine what the different outcomes for women in Denmark are between the "family-friendly" and the "non-family-friendly" sector. In Denmark, the public sector is "family-friendly" because of its generous leave and employee benefits; workers decide which sector to work in based on their preferences and opportunities. The study found that, while in the "family-friendly" sector there was basically no wage loss related to taking parental leave, women did have consistent earnings loss in the "non-family-friendly" private sector for one year's leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Universal, paid parental leave can be privately funded (i.e., corporations are mandated to absorb the cost of paid parental time off as part of employee benefits) or publicly funded (i.e., transferred directly to workers on leave, like unemployment insurance). Concerns about private funding include the statistical discrimination described above as well as the costs to smaller businesses. Datta Gupta, Smith, & Verneer found in 2008 that, while publicly funded parental leave has benefits, it is very expensive to fund and question if it is the most cost-effective use of funds.


title: Parental leave

text: The father's quota is a policy implemented by some countries or companies that reserves a part of the parental leave or other types of family leave for the father. If the father does not take this reserved part of leave, the family loses that leave period—that is, it cannot be transferred to the mother. Given the high rates of women's participation in the formal labor force in many parts of the world, there is increasing interest among social scientists and policymakers in supporting a more equal division of labor between partners. Some critics question whether such policies are evidence-based and express concern that they are "a social experiment, the effects of which are unknown". However, other studies have shown that paternity leave improves bonds between fathers and children and also helps mitigate the wage gap women face after taking maternity leave. Other psychological perspectives summarise evidence and find that the role of a father in child development is very similar to that of a mother, counteracting the concern that greater paternal involvement in childcare could lead to unforeseen negative consequences. Criticism is often less concerned about the idea of paternity leave itself, but condemns the fact that father's quota policies do not allow that time to be allocated to the mother instead. Critics argue that the quota harms mothers, depriving them of much needed leave, trivializes biological realities, and is an example of discrimination against mothers.


title: Parental leave

text: In the European Union, non-transferable parental leave remains a controversial issue. It was first introduced by the Parental Leave Directive 2010, which required at least one month of the minimum four months of parental leave be non-nontransferable; this non-transferable period was increased to two months by the Work–Life Balance Directive of 2019, which must be transposed by member states at the latest on 2 August 2022. Originally, the plan under the Work–Life Balance Directive was to increase the non-transferable period to four months, but due to inability to reach consensus among member states, a compromise was reached at two months. (note: this refers to the specific type of leave called parental leave, under EU law there are different types of leave, such as maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave, and carer leave which are regulated differently).


title: Parental leave

text: Comparison between countries in term of employee benefits to leave for parents are often attempted, but these are very difficult to make because of the complexity of types of leave available and because terms such as maternity leave, paternity leave, pre-natal leave, post-natal leave, parental leave, family leave and home-care leave, have different meanings in different jurisdictions. Such terms may often be used incorrectly. Comparing the length of "maternity leave" (which is common in international rankings) may say very little about the situation of a family in a specific country. A country for example may have a long maternity leave but a short (or non-existent) parental or family leave, or vice versa. In the European Union, each country has its own policies, which vary significantly, but all the EU members must abide by the minimum standards of the Pregnant Workers Directive and Work–Life Balance Directive.


title: Parental leave

text: Sometimes there is a distortion in how maternity leave is reported and delimitated from other types of leave, especially in jurisdictions where there is no clear legal term of "maternity leave", and such term is used informally to denote either the minimum or the maximum period of parental leave reserved by quota to the mother. Some countries may be listed artificially as having more or less generous benefits. Sweden is sometimes listed in international statistics as having 480 days' "maternity leave", although these days include parental leave. As such, Sweden is often quoted as having an exceptionally long leave, although there are several countries with significantly longer leave, when maternity leave and other leaves are added, where a parent may take leave until a child is 3 years of age.


title: Parental leave

text: Research has demonstrated that the duration of parental leave among individuals is influenced by peer behaviour. For example, if a mother notices a coworker opting for a longer parental leave, the probability of her to also increase their maternity leave increases. Welteke and Worhlich (2019) article found that expectant mother's who had peers taking parental leave of longer than ten months were thirty percent more likely to also take more than ten months off compared to expectant parents whose peers took a shorter leave. The influence of peer effects is not solely present to expectant mothers but also fathers. Research in Norway found that expectant fathers were 11 percent more likely to take paternity leave if they witnessed their coworkers use this benefit. In addition to coworkers, expectant fathers were 15 percent more likely to use paternity leave if their brother also utilized the program. Dahl et al., (2014) research additionally found a snowball effect occurring in workplaces where fathers using paternity leave.This means with every additional coworker utilizing benefits of parental leave in the office, the likelihood of others to also use the program benefits.


title: Parental leave

text: There are competing arguments to why peers have an influence to the duration of paternal leave of an expecting parent. The first hypothesis stems from mothers learning from their peers about parental leave programs they were previously unaware of. This increase in awareness would lead to more mothers utilizing parental leave for a longer duration. A competing hypothesis states that when coworkers increase their pregnancy leave, there becomes a change in the social norms of that workplace. This phenomenon is known as “herd behaviour” in which an alteration of the traditional habits in the workplace shifted the behaviour of the employees.


title: Parental leave

text: Several factors influence the uptake of parental leave by expectant fathers. For example, research has found that fathers who had a secondary education were 28% more likely to take parental leave programs longer than fathers who did not receive secondary education. Furthermore, fathers with a tertiary education were 67% more likely to take parental leave of longer than two months than dads with secondary education.


title: Parental leave

text: Additionally, the Income levels of fathers have been noted to influence the uptake of fathers' parental leave. Low-income fathers are less likely to use parental leave, and if they did take off time, it is shorter in duration than fathers with higher income. The discrepancies between the two demographics may be due to fathers with lower incomes being restricted by a more unstable labour market. Fathers in different-sex relationships are even less likely to use parental leave if the mother has a low income. The mother's low income positively correlates with the father taking little to no parental leave. This may be due to the father wanting the mother to take a longer leave themselves or other factors such as the pressures to provide for the household economically.


title: Parental leave

text: Research in Sweden found that foreign-born fathers are less likely to partake in parental programs than native-born fathers. The authors have theorized that this result might reflect greater instability of labour markets for first-generation migrants. Additionally, there is a greater likelihood for first-generation immigrants to lack access to information concerning parental leave can contribute to the decrease in uptake from this demographic.


title: Parental leave

text: Another aspect that influences the uptake of parental leave is gender dynamics at home and work. In households with a positive association between fatherhood involvement and egalitarian values, the father utilization of parental leave is increased. Workplace environments that promote parental leave for fathers as essential create a greater likelihood of these dads taking parental leave for a longer duration. In contrast, a workplace culture that views paternal leave as an indicator of poor work habits and as "feminine" causes fathers in that environment to be less likely to participate in parental leave. In Australia it has been argued, by Georgie Dent. that the uptake of parental leave by fathers could enable the workforce participation of women, leading to improved economic outcomes for families as well as the Nation.


title: Parental leave

text: The eligibility and uptake of parental leave programs are not consistent among all demographics of expecting mothers. In most European countries, parental leave is granted to parents, usually after maternity and paternity leave. In some countries, parental leave has more restrictive requirements than maternity leave or paternity leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Research by Marynissen, Wood and Neels (2021) found that 26.37% of mothers in Belgium are not eligible for parental leave. This is due to the employment-based eligibility criteria present with the country's parental leave program (although unemployed women receive maternity leave). By utilizing an employment-based measure, scholars have noted that this creates barriers for currently unemployed mothers to receive an opportunity to take more time off looking for a job and care for their child. Another limitation present with employment-based criteria is that in some countries self-employed individuals are not eligible for certain parental benefits. For example, in Belgium, a self-employed woman receives a maternity leave that is shorter and lower paid than an employed woman; and does not receive parental leave. There are also a certain number of hours an employee must meet before being eligible for employment-based parental leave. These various factors limit access to parental care for expecting mothers. Expecting parents who are the most affected by this criteria are usually younger, single, less educated and/or are from migrant backgrounds.


title: Parental leave

text: In addition to discrepancies present in eligibility, there is variation among expecting mothers who utilize parental leave benefits. For example, research performed by Kil, Wood and Neels(2018) found that native-born Belgian women had higher uptake of parental programs (52%) in comparison to first-generation Belgian citizens from Turkey and Morocco, whose uptake was relatively low (34%). The difference in uptake can be attributed to factors such as the flexibility of the parental leave, culture of the workplace, cultural ideals of paid leave, not knowing about the program itself and other normative factors that influenced the utilization of paid leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Research has found that mothers in same-sex relationships are less likely to uptake parental leave than mothers in different-sex relationships. Evertsson and Boye (2018) found that birth mothers in same-sex relationships, on average, took seven weeks less parental leave than birth mothers in different-sex relationships. The authors reference that gender norms result in the difference between parental uptake duration between birth mothers in same-sex relationships compared to different-sex relationships.


title: Parental leave

text: Eligibility of parental leave for same sex couples depends on numerous factors: on adoption policies (on whether or not same-sex couples can adopt jointly or not; on whether a single parent is allowed to adopt or not - and if yes, whether the second parent can subsequently adopt - and on surrogacy laws).


title: Parental leave

text: According to a study that examined policies in 34 OECD countries, in nineteen of these countries, same sex female couples received the same amount of parental leave benefits as different sex couples.


title: Parental leave

text: For same-sex male couples, four countries provided the same duration of parental leave as different sex couples. Therefore, twenty-nine OECD countries provided a shorter period of parental leave and fewer benefits for same-sex male parents. In addition, some countries, such as Turkey and Israel, provided no parental leave benefits or paid leave for the expectant male parents.


title: Parental leave

text: The reason for discrepancies in parental leave between same-sex and different-sex couples is theorized to have several different explanations, usually related to who can be a legal parent. One factor affecting parental leave duration for same-sex couples is the restrictive language found in parental leave policies. The study found that some parental leave policies only referred to heterosexual couples and did not include same-sex couples in the legislation, leading to increased barriers for same-sex parents to receive paid leave. Another significant barrier comes when same-sex couples try adopting their child. In 15 of the 34 OECD countries examined, same sex couples cannot legally adopt a child together. In these countries, same-sex couples may have one person in the relationship adopt their child as a single parent. Only one parent will be provided parental or adoption-related leave through this adoption strategy. While there is an option of second-parent adoption in some of these 15 countries, the process of a second adoption is costly and time-consuming- creating potential barriers that restrict the same-sex couple from pursuing this procedure. In some countries, same-sex parents can only be formed through a birth mother in a lesbian relation (considered legally a single mother), so the second mother does not receive leave.


title: Parental leave

text: The Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 requires at least 14 weeks of maternity leave. In the European Union, the Pregnant Workers Directive requires at least 14 weeks of maternity leave; while the Work–Life Balance Directive requires at least 10 days of paternity leave, as well as at least 4 months of parental leave, with 2 months being non-transferable.


title: Parental leave

text: Typically, the effects of parental leave are improvements in prenatal and postnatal care, including a decrease in infant mortality. The effects of parental leave on the labor market include an increase in employment, changes in wages, and fluctuations in the rate of employees returning to work. Leave legislation can also impact fertility rates.


title: Parental leave

text: A study in Germany found that wages decreased by 18 percent for every year an employee spends on parental leave. However, after the initial decrease in wages, the employee's salary rebounds faster than the salary of someone not offered parental leave. A study of California's leave policy, the first state in the U.S. to require employers to offer paid parental leave, showed that wages did increase.


title: Parental leave

text: Parental leave can lead to greater job security. Studies differ in how this helps return to work after taking time off. Some studies show that if a parent is gone for more than a year after the birth of a child, it decreases the possibility that he or she will return. Other studies of shorter leave periods show that parents no longer need to quit their jobs in order to care for their children, so employment return increases.


title: Parental leave

text: It does not appear that parental leave policies have had a significant effect on the gender wage gap, which has remained relatively steady since the late 1980s, despite increasing adoption of parental leave policies.


title: Parental leave

text: In the U.S., while the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) allows for unpaid parental leave, parents often do not utilize this eligibility to its fullest extent as it is unaffordable. As a result, some studies show that the FMLA has had a limited impact on how much leave new parents take. Though specific amounts can vary, having a child (including the cost of high-quality childcare) costs families approximately $11,000 in the first year. These high costs contribute to new mothers in the United States returning to work quicker than new mothers in European countries; approximately one third of women in the United States return to work within three months of giving birth, compared to approximately five per cent in the U.K., Germany, and Sweden, and just over half of mothers in the United States with a child under the age of one work.


title: Parental leave

text: There is some evidence that legislation for parental leave raises the likelihood of women returning to their previous jobs as opposed to finding a new job. This rise is thought to fall to between 10% and 17%. Simultaneously, there is a decrease in the percentage of women who find new jobs, which falls between 6% and 11%. Thus, such legislation appears to increase how many women return to work post-childbirth by around 3% or 4%.


title: Parental leave

text: Additionally, it appears that parental leave policies do allow women to stay home longer before returning to work as the probability of returning to an old job falls in the second month after childbirth before dramatically rising in the third month. Although this legislation thus appears to have minimal effect on women choosing to take leave, it does appear to increase the time women take in leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Maternity leave legislation could pose benefits or harm to employers. The main potential drawback of mandated leave is its potential to disrupt productive activities by raising rates of employee absenteeism. With mandated leave for a certain period of time and facing prolonged absence of the mothers in the workplace, firms will be faced with two options: hire a temp (which could involve training costs) or function with a missing employee. Alternatively, these policies could be positive for employers who previously did not offer leave because they were worried about attracting employees who were disproportionately likely to use maternity leave. Thus, there is potential for these policies to correct market failures. A drawback of rising leave at the societal level, however, is the resulting decrease in female labor supply. In countries with a high demand for labor, including many present-day countries with aging populations, a smaller labor supply is unfavorable.


title: Parental leave

text: Something important to note for all the research cited above is that the results typically depend on how leave coverage is defined, and whether the policies are for unpaid or paid leave. Policies guaranteeing paid leave are considered by some to be dramatically more effective than unpaid-leave policies.


title: Parental leave

text: For women individually, long breaks in employment, as would come from parental leave, negatively affects their careers. Longer gaps are associated with reduced lifetime earnings and lower pension disbursements as well as worsened career prospects and reduced earnings. Due to these drawbacks, some countries, notably Norway, have expanded family policy initiatives to increase the father's quota and expand childcare in an effort to work towards greater gender equality.


title: Parental leave

text: According to a 2016 study, the expansion of government-funded maternity leave in Norway from 18 to 35 weeks led mothers to spend more time at home without a reduction in family income.


title: Parental leave

text: The term 'paternity leave' refers to the leave that is exclusively granted to the fathers to enable them in spending time with their new-born child. Although parental leave is increasingly granted to fathers, mothers continue to take the majority of guaranteed parental leave. When guaranteed leave is unpaid, research indicates that men's leave usage is unaffected. In Germany, where parental leave is guaranteed for both parents, the financial incentive, alone, was not enough to encourage fathers to take paternal leave. While uncommon on a world scale, some countries do reserve parts of the paid leave for the father, meaning it can't be transferred to the mother and lapses unless he uses it. Among the earliest countries to actively push for increased usage of paternity leave are the Nordic welfare states, starting with Sweden making parental leave gender neutral in 1974 and soon followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Finland. These countries lack a unified concept of paternity leave, each imposing different conditions, ratios and timescales, but are regarded as among the most generous in the world.


title: Parental leave

text: Partly in an initiative to combat the "motherhood penalty", Norway in 1993 initiated a policy change to incentivize paternal leave, the so-called "father's quota", and Sweden followed suit in 1995. This means a certain number of parental leave-days can only be used by the father, and are otherwise lost. In countries in which leave entitlements include a father's quota, there has been a pronounced impact, with the quota being credited for increasing paternal involvement and challenging gender roles within the family, promoting a more equal division of labor. To evaluate this change, Rønsen and Kitterød looked at the rate and timing of women's return to work after giving birth, and the effect on this of the new parental leave policy. In their 2015 study, Rønsen and Kitterød found women in Norway returned to work significantly faster after the policy change. However, public or subsidized daycare was greatly expanded at the same time, so Rønsen and Kitterød did not find that the "father's quota" was solely responsible for the timing of work entry. But it can be understood to have an effect on division of household labor by gender when both parents can take time to care for a new baby.


title: Parental leave

text: Another impact from fathers taking more leave is that in Norway it has been shown to have the potential to either decrease or increase the time women take, depending on whether the mother's and father's childcare are seen as substitutes or complements. If substitute goods, mothers are able to return to work sooner as fathers take some of the childcare responsibility. Research has suggested a class element is at play: middle class fathers consider themselves a suitable alternative to the mother as primary caregiver, while working-class men may see themselves more as supporters of their partner during her leave. Consequently, middle class fathers may be more likely to use their allotment of leave right after the mother returns to work, while working class fathers may opt to take their leave during the mother's leave. In some cases, longer leave for fathers can motivate mothers to also stay home.


title: Parental leave

text: Fathers tend to use less parental leave than mothers in the United States as well as in other countries where paid leave is available, and this difference may have factors other than the financial constraints which impact both parents. Bygren and Duvander, looking at the use of parental leave by fathers in Sweden, concluded that fathers' workplace characteristics (including the size of the workplace, whether there were more men or women in the workplace, and whether the workplace was part of the private or public sector) influenced the length of parental leave for fathers, as did the presence of other men who had taken parental leave at an earlier point in time. As of 2016 paternity leave accounts for 25% of paid parental leave in Sweden.


title: Parental leave

text: In 2013, Joseph, Pailhé, Recotillet, and Solaz published a natural experiment evaluating a 2004 policy change in France. They were interested in the economic effects of full-time, short paid parental leave. Before the reform, women had a mandatory two-month parental leave, and could take up to three years' unpaid parental leave with their job guaranteed, though most women only took the two months. The new policy, "complément libre choix d'activité" (CLCA), guarantees six months of paid parental leave. The authors found positive effects on employment: compared to women in otherwise similar circumstances before the reform, first-time mothers who took the paid leave after the reform were more likely to be employed after their leave, and less likely to stay out of the labor force. The authors point to similar results of full-time, short paid parental leave observed in Canada in 2008 by Baker and Milligan, and in Germany in 2009 by Kluve and Tamm. However, Joseph also found that wages were lower (relative to women before the reform) for moderately and highly educated women after the leave, which could be because the women returned to work part-time or because of a "motherhood penalty", where employers discriminate against mothers, taking the six-month leave as a "signal" that the woman will not be as good of an employee because of her mothering responsibilities.


title: Parental leave

text: Rasmussen analyzed a similar natural experiment in Denmark with a policy change in 1984 where parental leave increased from 14 to 20 weeks. Rasmussen found the increased length of parental leave had no negative effect on women's wages or employment and in the short run (i.e., 12 months) it had a positive effect on women's wages, compared to the shorter leave. There was no difference on children's long-term educational outcomes before and after the policy change.


title: Parental leave

text: According to a 2020 study, parental leave leads to better health outcomes for children. A Harvard report cited research showing paid maternity leave "facilitates breastfeeding and reduces risk of infection" but is not associated with changes in immunization rate. This research also found that countries with parental leave had lower infant mortality rates. Returning to work within 12 weeks was also associated with fewer regular medical checkups. Data from 16 European countries during the period 1969–1994 revealed that the decrease of infant mortality rates varied based on length of leave. A 10-week leave was associated with a 1–2% decrease; a 20-week leave with 2–4%; and 30 weeks with 7–9%. The United States, which does not have a paid parental leave law, ranked 56th in the world in 2014 in terms of infant mortality rates, with 6.17 deaths per every 1,000 children born. The research did not find any infant health benefits in countries with unpaid parental leave. Paid leave, particularly when available prior to childbirth, had a significant effect on birth weight. The frequency of low birth rate decreases under these policies, which likely contributes to the decrease in infant mortality rates as low birth weight is strongly correlated with infant death. However, careful analysis reveals that increased birth weight is not the sole reason for the decreased mortality rate.


title: Parental leave

text: A 2021 study found that the introduction of paid maternity leave in Norway substantially improved maternal health outcomes, in particular for first-time and low-income mothers.


title: Parental leave

text: According to a 2016 study, the expansion of government-funded maternity leave in Norway from 18 to 35 weeks had little effect on children's schooling. However, when infants bond and have their needs met quickly by caregivers (mothers, fathers, etc.) they will become confident and be prepared to have healthy relationships throughout their life.


title: Parental leave

text: Children whose mothers worked in the first 9 months were found to be less ready for school at the age of 3 years. The effects of mothers' employment appeared to be the most detrimental when employment started between the sixth and ninth month of life. The reasons for this were uncertain, but there is conjecture that there was something unusual for the group of mothers who returned to work in this time period as they represented only 5% of all families studied. Negative impacts in terms of school-readiness were most pronounced when the mother worked at least 30 hours per week. These findings were complicated by many factors, including race, poverty, and how sensitive the mother was considered. The effects were also greater in boys, which is explained by the fact that many analysts consider boys more vulnerable to stress in early life.


title: Parental leave

text: The same Harvard report also linked paid parental leave and a child's psychological health. It found that parents with paid parental leave had closer bonds with their children. Based on research of heterosexual couples, better immersion of the father in the process of raising a child can lead to improved development outcomes for the child and a better relationship between the parents. In recent years, various OECD countries drew attention to the topic, especially to the time of the parental leave taken by fathers, and concluded that short-term paternal leaves still lead to positive outcomes for the child's development. Families do take into account relative income levels of each parent when planning for parental leave; the partner earning a lower wage may be more likely to take parental leave. There is also often workplace pressure on men not to take paternity leave, or to take less than the maximum time allowed. To counteract these pressures and encourage paternity leave, some countries have experimented with making paternity leave mandatory or otherwise incentivizing it.


title: Parental leave

text: There are also observable improvements in the mental health of mothers when they are able to return to work later. While the probability of experiencing postpartum depression had no significant statistical change, longer leave (leave over 10 weeks) was associated with decreased severity of depression and decreased number of experienced symptoms. This reduction was, on average, between 5% and 10%.


title: Parental leave

text: Studies looking for a connection between paid parental leave have shown conflicting results. Some research looked at women 25–34 years old, who are more likely to be affected by leave legislation. Fertility rates peaked for those between 25–29 and 30–34 across European countries. Conversely, however, research in Spain found that after the introduction of two weeks of paid paternity leave, fertility rates fell, suggesting that when fathers are more engaged in raising children, they may become more aware of the challenges; their priorities may shift to quality over quantity of children; and/or that mothers are better able to remain connected to the workforce.


title: Parental leave

text: A study of a 2012 law in Sweden that allowed fathers to take up to 30 days of paid family leave in the first year after the birth of the child at the same time as the mother was on leave led to substantial improvements in the mental and physical health of mothers.


title: Parental leave

text: The economic consequences of parental leave policies are subject to controversy. According to a 2016 study, the expansion of government-funded maternity leave in Norway from 18 to 35 weeks had net costs that amounted to 0.25% of GDP, negative redistribution properties and implied a considerable increase in taxes at a cost to economic efficiency. In the U.S., paid family leave tends to lead to a higher employee retention rate and higher incomes for families. Evidence from selected countries in Western Europe suggests that moderate levels of parental leave can encourage mothers to reenter the work force after having children, promoting national economic development.


title: Parental leave

text: Parental leave policies have an impact on gender equality as it relates to parenting and are therefore used by various countries as a tool to promote gender equality. Many countries have implemented paid parental leave policies for both parents, while a minority of countries, like the United States, only have unpaid parental leave. A father's quota, which reserves a part of the leave period exclusively for the father, is sometimes assumed to promote gender equality, although the extent and effects are subject to debate.


title: Parental leave

text: As more women have joined the formal labor force, the lack of men's participation in parenting has been called out as a key example of gender inequality. Various studies highlight the importance of egalitarian parental leave policies in achieving equal distribution of childcare between parents. Moreover, when discussing parental leave policies, the focus is often on comparing improvements in maternity leave policies to what was available in the past, rather than comparing the impact of diverse policies around the world that distribute parental leave differently between both parents.


title: Parental leave

text: Statistics show a positive correlation between maternity leave policies and women's employment, but the causation relationship cannot be firmly established. While many believe that maternity leave policies encourage women's participation in the labor force, Anita Nyberg suggests that it is the other way around: that development of maternity leave policies was a response to women's participation in the labor force.


title: Parental leave

text: Economist Christopher Ruhm argues that men's involvement in childcare at the same level as women is essential for eliminating differences in gender roles. Thus, an increase in the use of parental leave by women (and lack thereof by men) will have a negative impact on gender equality. Inversely, an increase in the use of leave by men will have a positive impact. Transferable leave policies appear to be fair and equal in theory, since they do not specifically allocate leave focused on childcare to women and even allow the family to choose. In practice, however, it leads to the majority of available parental leave being used by women. The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, summarizing different studies, states that there is only limited evidence to support a relationship between the father's quota and gender equality; the few relevant studies point in different directions; the association's former president, psychologist and former Chairman of UNICEF Torild Skard, argues that psychological research does not support the assertion that mothers can be replaced by fathers in the first year. A Norwegian study from 2018 found that an extension of the father's quota had no effect on gender equality.


title: Parental leave

text: Through examination of leave policies in twenty-one European countries by describing the existing policy schemes' duration, payment, and transferability, Carmen Castro-Garcia created the Parental Leave Equality Index (PLEI), which can predict the participation of each parent in raising their children based on their gender and the existing policy regarding parental leave. His model shows that a policy that provides equal, nontransferable, and well-paid leave for each parent (which no country has at the moment) will best encourage men's and women's equal participation in childcare.


title: Parental leave

text: The European Union recognizes the ability for countries to utilize varying parental leave policies to affect labor force participation, the labor market, maternal health, the work–life balance of parents, and the physical and emotional development of children. And by affecting the work–life balance of parents, it may reduce the barriers to participation of both parents in parenting. More specifically, paternity and parental leave policies are key to encouraging fathers' involvement in parenting the child.


title: Parental leave

text: In 2014, the European Parliament concluded that, by promoting the uptake of parental leave and paternity leave by fathers, governments can aim to facilitate a more gender-equal distribution of care work, support mothers' return to the labor market, equalize the circumstances in which women and men enter the labor market, and improve the work–life balance of families.


title: Parental leave

text: Findings by the European Parliament in 2015 found that 18 of the EU-28 countries offer paternity leave, and that the EU-average length is 12.5 days, ranging from one day in Italy to 64 working days in Slovenia. For 23 EU member states, on average only 10 percent of fathers take parental leave, ranging from 0.02 percent in Greece to 44 per cent in Sweden.


title: Parental leave

text: The gender difference in the employment rate is representative of the gender employment gap; filling this gap is an important objective in promoting gender equality and is a part of the Europe 2020 target of an employment rate of 75 per cent for both men and women. The uptake of leave by fathers can reduce the motherhood penalty by enabling mothers to return to the labor market, as illustrated by studies that have shown that the involvement of fathers in childcare has a positive effect on mothers' full-time employment.


title: Parental leave

text: Reduction of the gender pay gap (GPG) is also an important goal for the EU. In 2014 the GPG in the EU-28 was 16.1 percent, which means that for every euro men got paid in the EU, women got paid 83.9 cents. (The GPG exists equally after correction for occupation and education level.) A study done on the gender pension gap estimates the gap to be around 40 percent, which is more than twice the gender pay gap. Increased leave uptake by fathers can reduce the length of career interruptions for women, reduce part-time work by women and potentially reduce the GPG, all of which are leading causes of the gender pension gap.


title: Parental leave

text: The advancement of gender equality has also been on the political agenda of Nordic countries for decades. Although all Nordic countries have extended the total leave period, their policies towards father's quota are different.


title: Parental leave

text: In Iceland, each parent receives paid leaves, and each parent can transfer a month to the other (therefore there are two transferable months between the parents). In Sweden, 90 days cannot be transferred from one parent to the other—i.e. each parent gets at least 90 days of parental leave, thus the quota applies equally to both parents and is not specifically fathers. In total, Sweden offers new parents 480 days of parental leave and these days can be used up until the child is 12 years old. The only Nordic country that does not provide fathers with a quota is Denmark, where women have the right to four weeks parent leave before giving birth and 14 weeks leave after giving birth. Thereafter, 32 weeks of parent leave are voluntarily divided between the man and the woman, making eight months leave entirely up to the family to decide. However, the dual earner/dual care model seems to be the direction of all the Nordic countries are moving in the construction of their parental leave systems.


title: Parental leave

text: A study done in Norway found that when parental leave is granted for both parents, there is still gender inequality observed in the form of mothers being more likely to have part-time jobs compared to their partners. Since then, the government has provided child care support for parents who want them in order to encourage mothers to return to full-time jobs earlier, and it is effective to a certain extent.


title: Parental leave

text: In Germany, original laws tackling gender inequality with respect to parenting date back to 1986 in both Eastern and Western Germany, where one parent could take up to two years of leave after the birth of the child with a maximum allowance. According to a study done in 2006, 97% of the people who took the leave were mothers.


title: Parental leave

text: In 2007, declining birth rates and demographic change led to a new law, the "Parenting Benefits and Parental Leave Law" (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeit-Gesetz). This change in family policy had mainly two aims: to reduce parents' financial loss in the first year after childbirth, and to encourage fathers to actively participate in childcare by taking parental leave.


title: Parental leave

text: With this shift in paradigm, a better work–life balance and less support for the male breadwinner model was targeted. This was part of a "sustainable family policy" promoted by German unification and European integration with the underlying objective to raise birth rates by providing financial incentive.


title: Parental leave

text: The law's impact was mainly perceived positively with men reporting high motivation to take leave. So far this has not been reflected in official statistics, but Susanne Vogl concludes that if there is a general willingness of men to participate in parental leave the new Parenting Benefits regulations will help facilitate the actual decision to take a leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Even though, according to a survey conducted by WorldatWork and Mercer in 2017, 93% of Americans agree that mothers should receive paid parental leave and 85% agree that fathers should receive paid parental leave, as of October 2018 the United States does not have nationwide laws that guarantee paid parental leave to its workforce; however, certain states have passed laws providing paid workers with such rights. As of April 2022, ten states (California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, and Maryland) and the District of Columbia have enacted laws that grant parental leave as part of state paid family and medical leave insurance laws, with 4 being effective currently. In states without such laws, a proportion of companies do provide paid parental leave.


title: Parental leave

text: According to Eileen Appelbaum, the lack of parental leave policies results in many low-income families struggling to support themselves financially if both parents are off work. As a result, many mothers leave work to take care of their children while the father remains at work to financially support the family.


title: Parental leave

text: The group of mothers that uses maternity leave most often in the United States are White, non-Hispanic women and the usage of paid maternity leave is drastically lower among Black and Hispanic mothers. The groups of women that have the most access and opportunity to use maternity leave are often reported as having a higher level of income and full-time employment. Statistically, Black women are half as likely to take leave as compared to White women. Black people are substantially less likely to take maternity or parental leave, which is due to structural factors including racial and ethnic discrimination in the workforce. Black women have less access to resources that allow them to take leave or provide care for family members, and Hispanic women are faced with the same issues. These disadvantages lead to lower socioeconomic statuses of Black and Hispanic people in the United States, which also contribute to a lack of opportunity for paid maternity leave and a lack of the financial resources needed to be able to afford taking unpaid or partially paid parental leave. Black and Hispanic workers are less likely to work in professional-class jobs, and therefore are less likely to have access to benefits like paid leave that come with such jobs. Black parents are frequently employed in the public sector, which also may exclude them from paid family leave opportunities. When a lack of access to paid or unpaid maternity or parental leave is reported, Black and Hispanic women are more likely to have higher risks of maternal and child health problems. Non-Hispanic Black women are more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than Non-Hispanic White women in the United States.


title: Parental leave

text: The Australian government provides paid parental leave for both parents, but more for the mother compared to the father. Michael Bittman stated that the reason they provide parental leave is unique in that they view children as "public goods" and, therefore, the state is responsible to provide and support the child. But like most places around the world, studies done in Australia show that the inequality still persists within the family, and that women spend more time doing unpaid work (like parenting) compared to men.


title: Parental leave

text: According to a study done by Nan Jia, during the Maoist era, women's full participation in the labor force played a key role in the Chinese government's efforts to advance women's position in society. To facilitate women's labor force participation, the Chinese government initiated a series of measures to mitigate the work–family conflict that women face during pregnancy and childbirth. These measures included an entitlement to 56 days of paid maternity leave.


title: Parental leave

text: In the post-reform era, a series of new regulations have been introduced to protect women's employment and reproductive rights in the new market economy. The Labor Law adopted in 1995 ensured that women and men have equal employment rights and that employers will not lay off women employees or lower their wages for reasons of marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or breastfeeding. The Labor Contract Law enacted in 2008 introduced the provision that prohibits employers from unilaterally terminating labor contracts with women employees who are pregnant, give birth, and care for a baby postpartum. Thus, under the Labor Law and Labor Contract Law, women employees are entitled to job-protected maternity leave.


title: Parental leave

text: The post-reform era saw further improvements in maternity benefits. The length of paid maternity leave was extended from fifty-six days prior to reform, to ninety days in 1988, and to 98 days in 2012. Most recently in 2016, paid maternity leave was extended to a minimum of 128 days after the long-standing one-child policy was replaced with a policy that encourages each couple to have two children. This latest extension of paid leave aims to increase fertility rates and slow the population aging process.


title: Parental leave

text: A 2020 study in the "Economic Journal" found that reforms in Iceland that incentivized fathers to take parental leave reduced the likelihood of parents separating. The strongest impact was on relationships where the mother was more educated than or equally educated as the father.


title: Parental leave

text: Some businesses adopt policies that are favorable to workers and public opinion. In their study of maternity leave policies in the United States, Kelly and Dobbin found that public policy surrounding pregnancy as a temporary disability (for instance, California's Family Temporary Disability Insurance program) gave rise to business practices that included maternity leave as a benefit.


title: Parental leave

text: Companies are starting to offer paid parental leave as a benefit to some American workers, seeing a profitable aspect of doing so, including: reduced turnover costs, increased productivity from workers, and increased rates of retention among women after childbirth. Some see the increase in paid parental leave as indicative of companies reaching out to women, as more women are working and returning to work after having children, and by doing so these companies generate positive publicity as employers with family-friendly workplaces. "Working Mother" magazine publishes a list of the 100 Best Companies for working mothers each year, a list which is noted not only by the readership of the magazine, but also by corporate America and increasingly by researchers and policy institutes as well. The Institute for Women's Policy Research issued a report in 2009 encouraging Congress to give federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave. The report cited statistics from the "Working Mother" 100 Best Company list, using private sector corporations as examples of substantial increase in the retention of new mothers after instituting a longer maternity leave policy. The report also noted that it would take newer workers four years to accrue enough paid leave (sick leave and annual leave) to equal the 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave provided under the FMLA, and that private sector companies that offer paid parental leave have a significant advantage over the federal government in the recruitment and retention of younger workers who may wish to have children.


title: Parental leave

text: As of February 2018, multinational companies such as Deloitte, TIAA and Cisco were providing parental leave regardless of the parent's gender.


title: Parental leave

text: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women introduces "maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances". The Maternity Protection Convention C 183 adopted in 2000 by International Labour Organization requires 14 weeks of maternity leave as minimum condition.


title: Parental leave

text: National laws vary widely according to the politics of each jurisdiction. As of 2012, only two countries do not mandate paid time off for new parents: Papua New Guinea and the United States.


title: Parental leave

text: Unless otherwise specified, the information in the tables below is gathered from the most recent International Labour Organization reports. Maternity leave refers to the legal protection given to the mother immediately after she gives birth (but may also include a period before the birth), paternity leave to legal protection given to the father immediately after the mother gives birth, and parental leave to protected time for childcare (usually for either parent) either after the maternity/paternity leave or immediately after birth (for example when the parent is not eligible for maternity/paternity leave, and/or where the time is calculated until the child is a specific age—therefore excluding maternity/paternity leave—usually such jurisdictions protect the job until the child reaches a specific age.) Others allow the parental leave to be transferred into part-time work time. Parental leave is generally available to either parent, except where specified. Leave marked "Unpaid" indicates the job is protected for the duration of the leave. Different countries have different rules regarding eligibility for leave and how long a parent has to have worked at their place of employment prior to giving birth before they are eligible for paid leave. In the European Union, the policies vary significantly by country—with regard to length, to payment, and to how parental leave relates to prior maternity leave—but the EU members must abide by the minimum standards of the Pregnant Workers Directive and Parental Leave Directive.


title: Parental leave

text: As international organizations are not subject to the legislation of any country, they have their own internal legislation on parental leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Parents in Luxembourg are entitled to parental leave for both childbirth and adoption. When the mother gives birth, regardless of whether she is an employee, self-employed or an apprentice, she is entitled to pre-natal maternity leave of 8 weeks before the expected due date and 12 weeks' post-natal leave. The father, meanwhile, gets 10 days' leave after the birth, which must be taken within 2 months of the child's birth. For adoptions, one of parents can take up to 12 weeks' leave if the adopted child is under the age of 12. Luxembourg provides a fixed compensation rate during parental leave, which is €1,778, while most of the other European countries get compensation as a percentage of the salary. Luxembourg doesn't have a policy for maternity allowance in place or in addition to the maternity leave pay. Maternity allowance means the money paid during pregnancy or just after child birth. According 2013 OECD data, public expenditure on maternal and paternal leaves on per child born was the most in Luxembourg out of almost all the European counties at the 35,000 at prices and PPPs of 2013 in USD.


title: Parental leave

text: On 1 December 2016, "family leave reform bill 7060" was passed in the Luxembourg parliament. According to this new reform, now fathers and mothers can take leave together. The first leave has to be taken right after maternity leave and the second can be taken before the child turns 6 years old. This new reform provides much more flexibility. The parent has four options: either they can take 4 to 6 months' full leave, 8 to 12 months' part-time leave, take one day off per week for 20 months or can take 4 individual months within 20 months. The official Luxembourg government portal suggests that according to the data collected more than 85% of the parents are extremely happy with this new reform and 79% people think that this new system is better than the older system.


title: Parental leave

text: In France, there is maternity leave, paternity/partner leave and parental leave. The maternity leave, the number of weeks a biological mother is allowed to leave work is 16 weeks in France—6 weeks before birth and 10 weeks post-birth. Maternity leave is 26 weeks for the third and subsequent children, and 34 weeks for twins. Maternity leave is mandatory, the mother must take at least part of the leave, complete renouncement of the leave is forbidden. Paternity/partner leave is 25 days. Parental leave in France () refers to the system of leave that is guaranteed to both fathers and mothers in cases of either childbirth or adoption, and can be taken for up to three years. In France, there are differences regarding the regulation on parental leave, based on number of children, how it is shared between parents, payment, and type of job. Payment varies between six months and three years.


title: Parental leave

text: Maternity leave in India is 26 weeks (8 prenatal and 18 postnatal) and is fully paid. India's maternity leave policy is regulated by The Code on Social Security, 2020. The employee must have worked in the company for at least 80 working days before availing this benefit and the woman would also be entitled to a medical bonus alongside the 100% paid leave. For women with already two children, the maternity leave reduces to 12 weeks. Only employees of state-owned enterprises and civil servants are entitled to paternity leave which is two weeks, while women civil servants are entitled to one year worth of parental leave, including the maternity leave.


title: Parental leave

text: Maternity leave in Germany is 14 weeks (6 prenatal and 8 postnatal), and parental leave is 3 years. Parents in Germany can request up to 3 years parental leave, which is partly paid with parental allowance. Parental leave can be taken immediately after maternity leave (the weeks of maternity leave after birth are included in the duration of the parental leave) or immediately after birth (for fathers) or it may be taken at later times. Parental leave can be taken all in a go, or in a fractioned way. It can be taken all before the child's 3rd birthday, or it may be extended until the 8th birthday; however at least one year must be taken before the third birthday (otherwise that year is lost). All parents who have legal parental rights are entitled to parental leave (including non-biological and same-sex). Parental allowance is paid during part of the parental leave; the amount and duration of payment has changed several times throughout the years. It is possible to be on parental leave and work a limited amount of hours, without losing the parental leave benefits. The advantage of working while on parental leave is that vacation (annual leave) continues to accrue, if one does not work at all on parental leave, that person's vacation leave entitlement reduces by one twelfth for each month during which one is taking parental leave (i.e. after a full year of parental leave the vacation entitlement for next year has been lost, unless there are remainder vacation days which had been accumulated before the parental leave, or unless the employer agrees otherwise). Parental leave is job protected, the employee has the right to return to the same job, or in certain situations, to a different position that is similar to the previous one.


title: Parental leave

text: Canada has two parental leave benefit programs for the care of a newborn or adopted child: a federal program, and provincial programs. Every Canadian province offers at least seventeen weeks of maternity leave, with the exception of Alberta - where maternity leave is fifteen weeks long. The eligibility for maternity leave is that the individual has to be the child's birth mother (including surrogate mother). There have to be at least 15 weeks leave (maternity leave can start up to 12 weeks before birth). In addition to maternity leave, there is parental leave, the length of which depends on payment: there is an option between "standard parental leave" up to 40 weeks (but one parent cannot receive more than 35 weeks) which is paid at the rate of 55% up to $638 weekly; and "extended parental leave" up to 69 weeks (but one parent cannot receive more than 61 weeks) which is paid at the rate of 33% up to $383.


title: Parental leave

text: Due to parental leave being under provincial jurisdiction, there is a decentralized nature to the policies concerning leave benefit programs. For example, the province of Quebec has some of the greatest maternity leave benefits in the country. In Quebec, a greater number of people are eligible for parental leave benefits and there are more benefits they can receive, compared to other provinces. The variety among provinces concerning parental leave has raised debates on whether there should be a unitary federal program for parental leave policies in Canada.


title: Parental leave

text: Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave is available under UK legislation to the parents of a child who dies under the age of 18, or where a child is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy. In Northern Ireland this entitlement was provided for in the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails (simplified as Rails) is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Rails is a model–view–controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages. It encourages and facilitates the use of web standards such as JSON or XML for data transfer and HTML, CSS and JavaScript for user interfacing. In addition to MVC, Rails emphasizes the use of other well-known software engineering patterns and paradigms, including convention over configuration (CoC), don't repeat yourself (DRY), and the active record pattern.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails' emergence in 2005 greatly influenced web app development, through innovative features such as seamless database table creations, migrations, and scaffolding of views to enable rapid application development. Ruby on Rails' influence on other web frameworks remains apparent today, with many frameworks in other languages borrowing its ideas, including Django in Python; Catalyst in Perl; Laravel, CakePHP and Yii in PHP; Grails in Groovy; Phoenix in Elixir; Play in Scala; and Sails.js in Node.js.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Well-known sites that use Ruby on Rails include Airbnb, Bloomberg, Crunchbase, Dribbble, indiexpo, GitHub, Twitch and Shopify.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: David Heinemeier Hansson extracted Ruby on Rails from his work on the project management tool Basecamp at the web application company 37signals. Hansson first released Rails as open source in July 2004, but did not share commit rights to the project until February 2005. In August 2006, the framework reached a milestone when Apple announced that it would ship Ruby on Rails with Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard", which was released in October 2007.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails version 2.3 was released on March 15, 2009, with major new developments in templates, engines, Rack and nested model forms. Templates enable the developer to generate a skeleton application with custom gems and configurations. Engines give developers the ability to reuse application pieces complete with routes, view paths and models. The Rack web server interface and Metal allow one to write optimized pieces of code that route around Action Controller.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: On December 23, 2008, Merb, another web application framework, was launched, and Ruby on Rails announced it would work with the Merb project to bring "the best ideas of Merb" into Rails 3, ending the "unnecessary duplication" across both communities. Merb was merged with Rails as part of the Rails 3.0 release.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 3.1 was released on August 31, 2011, featuring Reversible Database Migrations, Asset Pipeline, Streaming, jQuery as default JavaScript library and newly introduced CoffeeScript and Sass into the stack.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 3.2 was released on January 20, 2012 with a faster development mode and routing engine (also known as Journey engine), Automatic Query Explain and Tagged Logging. Rails 3.2.x is the last version that supports Ruby 1.8.7.<ref name="Rails/master is now 4.0.0.beta"></ref> Rails 3.2.12 supports Ruby 2.0.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 4.0 was released on June 25, 2013, introducing Russian Doll Caching, Turbolinks, Live Streaming as well as making Active Resource, Active Record Observer and other components optional by splitting them as gems.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 4.1 was released on April 8, 2014, introducing Spring, Variants, Enums, Mailer previews, and secrets.yml.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 4.2 was released on December 19, 2014, introducing Active Job, asynchronous emails, Adequate Record, Web Console, and foreign keys.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 5.0.0.1 was released on August 10, 2016, with Exclusive use of rails CLI over Rake and support for Ruby version 2.2.2 and above.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 5.1 was released on April 27, 2017, introducing JavaScript integration changes (management of JavaScript dependencies from NPM via Yarn, optional compilation of JavaScript using Webpack, and a rewrite of Rails UJS to use vanilla JavaScript instead of depending on jQuery), system tests using Capybara, encrypted secrets, parameterized mailers, direct & resolved routes, and a unified form_with helper replacing the form_tag/form_for helpers.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 5.2 was released on April 9, 2018, introducing new features that include ActiveStorage, built-in Redis Cache Store, updated Rails Credentials and a new DSL that allows for configuring a Content Security Policy for an application.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 5.2.2 was released on December 4, 2018, introducing numerous bug fixes and several logic improvements.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 6.0 was released on August 16, 2019, making Webpack default, adding mailbox routing, a default online rich-text editor, parallel testing, multiple database support, mailer routing and a new autoloader.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 6.1 was released on December 9, 2020, adding per-database connection switching, horizontal database sharding, eager loading of all associations, Delegated Types as an alternative to single-table inheritance, asynchronous deletion of associations, error objects, and other improvements and bug fixes.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Rails 7.0 was released on December 15, 2021, replacing Node.js and Webpack with import maps for JavaScript management by default, replacing Turbolinks with a combination of Turbo and Stimulus, adding at-work encryption into Active Record, using Zeitwerk exclusively for code loading, and more.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails evolves radically from release to release exploring the use of new technologies and adopting new standards on the Internet. Some features are very stable in Ruby on Rails while some are replaced in favour of new techniques.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: The model–view–controller (MVC) pattern is the fundamental structure to organize application programming.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: In a default configuration, a "model" in the Ruby on Rails framework maps to a table in a database and to a Ruby file. For example, a model class "User" will usually be defined in the file 'user.rb' in the app/models directory, and linked to the table 'users' in the database. While developers are free to ignore this convention and choose differing names for their models, files, and database table, this is not common practice and is usually discouraged in accordance with the "convention-over-configuration" philosophy.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: A "controller" is a server-side component of Rails that responds to external requests from the web server to the application, by determining which view file to render. The controller may also have to query one or more models for information and pass these on to the view. For example, in an airline reservation system, a controller implementing a flight-search function would need to query a model representing individual flights to find flights matching the search, and might also need to query models representing airports and airlines to find related secondary data. The controller might then pass some subset of the flight data to the corresponding view, which would contain a mixture of static HTML and logic that use the flight data to create an HTML document containing a table with one row per flight. A controller may provide one or more actions. In Ruby on Rails, an action is typically a basic unit that describes how to respond to a specific external web-browser request. Also, note that the controller/action will be accessible for external web requests only if a corresponding route is mapped to it. Rails encourages developers to use RESTful routes, which include actions such as create, new, edit, update, destroy, show, and index. These mappings of incoming requests/routes to controller actions can be easily set up in the routes.rb configuration file.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: A "view" in the default configuration of Rails is an erb file, which is evaluated and converted to HTML at run-time. Alternatively, many other templating systems can be used for views.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails includes tools that make common development tasks easier "out-of-the-box", such as scaffolding that can automatically construct some of the models and views needed for a basic website. Also included are WEBrick, a simple Ruby web server that is distributed with Ruby, and Rake, a build system, distributed as a gem. Together with Ruby on Rails, these tools provide a basic development environment.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is most commonly not connected to the Internet directly, but through some front-end web server. Mongrel was generally preferred over WEBrick in the early days, but it can also run on Lighttpd, Apache, Cherokee, Hiawatha, Nginx (either as a module – Phusion Passenger for example – or via CGI, FastCGI or mod ruby), and many others. From 2008 onward, Passenger replaced Mongrel as the most-used web server for Ruby on Rails. Ruby is also supported natively on IBM i.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is also noteworthy for its extensive use of the JavaScript libraries Prototype and Script.aculo.us for scripting Ajax actions. Ruby on Rails initially utilized lightweight SOAP for web services; this was later replaced by RESTful web services. Ruby on Rails 3.0 separates the markup of the page (which defines the structure of the page) from scripting (which determines functionality or logic of the page). jQuery is fully supported as a replacement for Prototype and is the default JavaScript library in Rails 3.1, reflecting an industry-wide move towards jQuery. Additionally, CoffeeScript was introduced in Rails 3.1 as the default JavaScript language.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Since version 2.0, Ruby on Rails offers both HTML and XML as standard output formats. The latter is the facility for RESTful web services.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: By default, the server uses Embedded Ruby in the HTML views, with files having an html.erb extension. Rails supports swapping-in alternative templating languages, such as HAML and Mustache.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails 3.0 has been designed to work with Ruby 1.8.7, Ruby 1.9.2, and JRuby 1.5.2+; earlier versions are not supported.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is separated into various packages, namely ActiveRecord (an object-relational mapping system for database access), Action Pack, Active Support and Action Mailer. Prior to version 2.0, Ruby on Rails also included the Action Web Service package that is now replaced by Active Resource. Apart from standard packages, developers can make plugins to extend existing packages. Earlier Rails supported plugins within their own custom framework; version 3.2 deprecates these in favor of standard Ruby "gems".


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is often installed using RubyGems, a package manager which is included with current versions of Ruby. Many free Unix-like systems also support installation of Ruby on Rails and its dependencies through their native package management system.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is typically deployed with a database server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, and a web server such as Apache running the Phusion Passenger module.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Ruby on Rails is intended to emphasize "Convention over Configuration" (CoC), and the "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) principle.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: The Rails Doctrine is an enduring enabler that guides the philosophy, design, and implementation of the Ruby on Rails framework.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: "Convention over Configuration" means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. For example, if there is a class "Sale" in the model, the corresponding table in the database is called "sales" by default. It is only if one deviates from this convention, such as calling the table "products sold", that the developer needs to write code regarding these names. Generally, Ruby on Rails conventions lead to less code and less repetition.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: "Don't repeat yourself" means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. For example, using the ActiveRecord module of Rails, the developer does not need to specify database column names in class definitions. Instead, Ruby on Rails can retrieve this information from the database based on the class name.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: "Fat models, skinny controllers" means that most of the application logic should be placed within the model while leaving the controller as light as possible.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: In March 2007, David Heinemeier Hansson applied to register three Ruby on Rails-related trademarks with the USPTO. These applications concern the phrase "RUBY ON RAILS", the word "RAILS", and the official Rails logo. In the summer of 2007, Hansson denied the publisher Apress permission to use the Ruby on Rails logo on the cover of a new Ruby on Rails book written by some authoritative community members. The episode gave rise to a polite protest in the Ruby on Rails community. In response to this criticism, Hansson replied:


title: Ruby on Rails

text: I only grant promotional use [of the Rails logo] for products I'm directly involved with. Such as books that I've been part of the development process for or conferences where I have a say in the execution. I would most definitely seek to enforce all the trademarks of Rails.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: In earlier days, Rails running on Matz's Ruby Interpreter (the "de facto" reference interpreter for Ruby) had been criticized for issues with scalability. These critics often mentioned various Twitter outages in 2007 and 2008, which spurred Twitter's partial transition to Scala (which runs on the Java Virtual Machine) for their queueing system and other middleware. The user interface aspects of the site continued to run Ruby on Rails until 2011 when it was replaced due to concerns over performance. On the other hand, many Rails business application developers relied on system architecture design, including choices of database engine, cache configuration, and servers, to tackle scalability issues. The original author of Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson, criticized Twitter, saying that their problems scaling were the consequences of their own poor architectural decisions and not the fault of Rails. According to Hansson, blaming Rails for their troubles while making no contributions to the framework is ungrateful and unjust.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: In 2011, Gartner Research noted that despite criticisms and comparisons to Java, many high-profile consumer web firms are using Ruby on Rails to build scalable web applications. Some of the largest sites running Ruby on Rails include Airbnb, Cookpad, GitHub, GitLab, Scribd, Shopify, and Basecamp. As of January 2016, it is estimated that more than 1.2 million web sites are running Ruby on Rails.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: In March 2012, security researcher Egor Homakov discovered a mass assignment vulnerability that allowed certain Rails applications to be remotely exploited, and demonstrated it by non-maliciously hacking GitHub after his earlier attempts at responsible disclosure were dismissed.


title: Ruby on Rails

text: On September 24, 2013, a session cookie persistence security flaw was reported in Ruby on Rails. In a default configuration, the entire session hash is stored within a session cookie known as "CookieStore", allowing any authenticated session possessing the session cookie to log in as the target user at any time in the future. As a workaround, administrators are advised to configure cookies to be stored on the server using mechanisms such as "ActiveRecordStore".


title: Ruby on Rails

text: Researchers Daniel Jackson and Joseph Near developed a data debugger they called "Space" that can analyze the data access of a Rails program and determine if the program properly adheres to rules regarding access restrictions. On April 15, 2016, Near reported that an analysis of 50 popular Web applications using Space uncovered 23 previously unknown security flaws.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone/paracetamol (also known as hydrocodone/acetaminophen) is the combination of the pain medications hydrocodone and paracetamol (acetaminophen). It is used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is taken by mouth. Recreational use is common in the United States.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Common side effects include dizziness, sleepiness, constipation, and vomiting. Serious side effects include addiction, decreased rate of breathing, low blood pressure, serotonin syndrome, severe allergic reactions, and liver failure. Use during pregnancy may harm the fetus. Use with alcohol is not recommended. Hydrocodone works by binding to the mu-opioid receptor. How paracetamol works is unclear but may involve blocking the creation of prostaglandins.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone/paracetamol was approved for medical use in the United States in 1982. In the United States, it is a schedule II controlled substance. In 2020, it was the sixteenth most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 30million prescriptions. It is not available in the United Kingdom, though the similar combination codeine/paracetamol (co-codamol) is. It is sold under the brand names Vicodin and Norco among others.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone/paracetamol is a fixed-dose combination consisting of the opioid hydrocodone and the non-opioid analgesic paracetamol. It is indicated for relief of moderate to severe pain of acute, chronic, or postoperative types. Hydrocodone/paracetamol comes in oral solution and tablet formulations; however strength of each component may vary. In October 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration rescheduled hydrocodone combination drugs from schedule III to schedule II due to its risk for misuse, abuse, and diversions.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone diversion and recreational use has escalated due to its opioid effects. In 2009 and 2010, hydrocodone was the second most frequently encountered opioid pharmaceutical in drug evidence submitted to U.S. federal, state, and local forensic laboratories as reported by the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) and System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence (STRIDE).


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Prolonged use of hydrocodone/paracetamol during pregnancy can result in neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Hydrocodone/paracetamol passes into breast milk and may harm the baby.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: "Paracetamol has been associated with cases of acute liver failure, at times resulting in liver transplant or death. Most of the cases of liver injury are associated with the use of paracetamol at doses that exceed 4000 milligrams per day, and often involve more than one paracetamol-containing product."


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone: Respiratory depression, extreme somnolence progressing towards coma, muscle limpness, cold and clammy skin, slow heart rate, low blood pressure, abrupt loss of heart function, and death may occur.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Hydrocodone may demonstrate an enhanced respiratory depressant effect when combined with other sedatives such as other opioids, benzodiazepines, nonbenzodiazepine sedatives, psychotropics, and anticonvulsants.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Laboratory function tests should be used to monitor therapy in people with severe liver or renal disease.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: On 30 June 2009, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted by a narrow margin to advise the FDA to remove Vicodin and another opioid, Percocet, from the market because of "a high likelihood of overdose from prescription narcotics and acetaminophen products". The panel also cited concerns of liver damage from their paracetamol component, which is also the main ingredient in commonly used nonprescription drugs such as Tylenol. Each year, paracetamol overdose is linked to about 400 deaths and 42,000 hospitalizations.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: In January 2011, the FDA asked manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain paracetamol to limit the amount of paracetamol to no more than 325 mg in each tablet or capsule within three years. The FDA also required manufacturers on all paracetamol containing products to issue a black box warning indicating the potential risk for severe liver injury and a warning highlighting potential for allergic reactions.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: On 22 August 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that all hydrocodone combination products (HCPs) will be rescheduled from Schedule III to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), effective on 6 October 2014. In 2010, more than 16,000 deaths were attributed to abuse of opioid drugs. Even though there are legitimate medical uses for HCPs, data suggest that a significant number of individuals misuse them.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: In May 2017, professional golfer Tiger Woods was arrested by the police for driving under the influence. Woods said that this was due to four prescription drugs that he was taking for a back operation, one of which was Vicodin.


title: Hydrocodone/paracetamol

text: Vicodin is mentioned in songs such as Juice Wrld's "Already Dead" Eminem's "Kill You", Blackbear's "Sniffing Vicodin in Paris", Kendrick Lamar's "A.D.H.D", Future's "Lay Up", Lupe Fiasco's "Mural", Queens of the Stone Age's "Feel Good Hit of the Summer", A Winged Victory for the Sullen's "Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears", Death Grips's "Anne Bonny" and The Wombats' "Give Me a Try". Vicodin use is a central theme in the 2004–2012 medical TV drama "House", in which the lead character Dr. Gregory House is addicted to the drug combination.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935) is an American singer, comedian and actor, best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as "Steve and Eydie", and for his performance as Maury Sline, the manager and friend of the main characters in "The Blues Brothers". Steve and Eydie first appeared together as regulars on "Tonight Starring Steve Allen" in 1954 and continued performing as a duo until Gormé's retirement in 2009. Gormé died August 10, 2013.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence was born as Sidney Liebowitz in the Brooklyn borough of New York City to Jewish parents, Max, a cantor at a synagogue in The Bronx, and Helen, a homemaker. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School. During his high school years, Lawrence earned some money after school singing for songwriters in the Brill Building.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: When he was only 18, Lawrence was hired by Steve Allen to be one of the singers on Allen's local New York City late night show on WNBC-TV in 1953, along with Eydie Gormé and Andy Williams. When the show got picked up by NBC to be seen on the national network, becoming "The Tonight Show," Lawrence, Gormé and Williams stayed on until the program's end in 1957.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: In the late 1950s, Steve Lawrence was drafted into the United States Army and served as the official vocal soloist with The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" in Washington, D.C.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence had success on the record charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s with such hits as "Go Away Little Girl" (U.S. No. 1), "Pretty Blue Eyes" (U.S. No. 9), "Footsteps" (U.S. No. 7), "Portrait of My Love" (U.S. No. 9), and "Party Doll" (U.S. No. 5). "Go Away Little Girl" sold over one million copies and was awarded a Gold record. However, much of Lawrence's musical career has centered on nightclubs and the musical stage.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence is also an actor, appearing in guest roles on television shows in every decade since the 1950s. After getting his start with Steve Allen's late night show, he was seen in programs such as "The Danny Kaye Show", "The Judy Garland Show", "The Julie Andrews Hour", "Night Gallery", "The Flip Wilson Show", "Police Story", "Murder, She Wrote", and "".


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence and Gormé starred in the 1958 summer replacement series on NBC, "The Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé Show." Lawrence made many appearances on "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967–78), with and without Eydie. "The Steve Lawrence Show", with supporting actor Charles Nelson Reilly, ran for 13 weeks in 1965, a variety show that was one of the last CBS television shows to only air in black and white. Lawrence also served as a panelist on "What's My Line?" (1950–67).


title: Steve Lawrence

text: In 1964, Lawrence starred in the Broadway musical "What Makes Sammy Run?". It centered on an ambitious young man clawing his way to the top in Hollywood. It ran for 504 performances at the 54th Street Theater.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence and Gormé appeared together in the Broadway musical "Golden Rainbow", which ran from February 1968 to January 1969. Although the show was not a huge success (a summary of this experience is chronicled in unflattering detail in William Goldman's 1968 book "The Season"), the show contained the memorable song "I've Gotta Be Me". This song was originally sung by Lawrence at the end of the first act of the musical. Sammy Davis, Jr. later recorded a version of the song that hit number 11 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 singles chart in 1969.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence starred as Gary McBride in the 1972 film "Stand Up and Be Counted", opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Stella Stevens. In 1980, he was introduced to a new generation of fans with his portrayal of Maury Sline in "The Blues Brothers", and reprised the role in the 1998 sequel "Blues Brothers 2000". Lawrence's other films include the Steve Martin comedy "The Lonely Guy" (1984) and the crime thriller "The Yards" (2000).


title: Steve Lawrence

text: In 1985, Steve and Eydie played Tweedledee (Gormé) and Tweedledum (Lawrence) in Irwin Allen's film adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland".


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Lawrence played Mark McCormick's father, Sonny Daye, in two episodes of "Hardcastle and McCormick". In 1999, he appeared as the much-talked about, but never really seen, Morty Fine, father of Fran Fine in a few of the final episodes of "The Nanny". In 2011, he portrayed Jack, a wealthy love interest of Betty White's character, Elka Ostrovsky, on "Hot in Cleveland". In 2014, he guest-starred in an episode of "Two and a Half Men" on CBS, and sang the theme song to the parody miniseries "The Spoils of Babylon".


title: Steve Lawrence

text: They had two sons together; David Nessim Lawrence (b. 1960) is an ASCAP Award-winning composer, who wrote the score for "High School Musical", and Michael Robert Lawrence (1962–1986), who died suddenly from ventricular fibrillation resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of 23. Michael was an assistant editor for a television show at the time of his death and was apparently healthy despite a previous diagnosis of slight arrhythmia.


title: Steve Lawrence

text: Gormé and Lawrence were in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time of Michael's death, having performed at the Fox Theater the night before. Upon learning of the death, family friend Frank Sinatra sent his private plane to fly the couple to New York to meet David, who was attending school at the time. Following their son's death, Gormé and Lawrence took a year off before touring again.