May 22, 2026

Good News for Humankind 🌏

Your daily spark of possibility — one real milestone for change from around the world.

Chile’s maternity leave reform lifted mothers’ employment without wage penalties

Chile's maternity leave reform delivered something policymakers rarely get to claim: a sustained employment boost for mothers, with no wage penalty in sight.

After the country doubled postnatal leave from 12 to 24 weeks in 2011, eligible mothers were 6.8 percentage points more likely to hold formal jobs in the three years after returning to work, according to a study in the Journal of Development Economics. The biggest gains went to women with shorter work histories — exactly the mothers the reform was meant to reach.

It's a hopeful signal for countries everywhere weighing family policy: designed with real conditions in mind, parental leave can lift women up rather than hold them back.

More of Today's Good News

• ​Banned ‘forever chemicals’ fell up to 74% in Canadian seabird eggs over 55 years​
• ​U.S. FDA approves first gene therapy for inherited deafness, offered free to U.S. patients​

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Peter Schulte Coach, writer, recovering hustle hero. ​​​

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