Gap Inc: Provide Quality Paid Parental Leave for Your Employees!

I try to shop responsibly when I can. As a very pregnant mother-to-be, I felt good about shopping at The Gap for my maternity clothes because of their recent ad campaign around closing the wage gap facing women in the workplace.

That’s why I was shocked to find out that The Gap offers only the bare minimum of paid leave to new moms, and nothing to dads or adoptive parents. If The Gap wants to support working women and the issue of equal pay, then this is a critical gap in its workplace that needs to be addressed.

Women make 77 cents on the dollar (even less if they are women of color) compared to every dollar an equally qualified man makes. One of the main causes of wage inequality at the workplace is corporations’ shameful track record when it comes to parental leave.

Providing quality paid family leave that is available to moms AND dads is one of the first, most critical steps a company can do to help to close the wage gap. When both women and men have equal access to quality paid family leave, women have more equal footing in the workplace. It’s just that simple.

Recently, a number of other major retail companies have announced far-reaching paid family leave policies for both moms and dads -- companies like Levis, Nike, even Ikea.

Launching an advertising campaign designed to appeal to working women when in reality The Gap leaves too many working women hanging in the balance is nothing more than window-dressing. Women deserve more than a hashtag.

It’s time for The Gap to put their policies where their ad campaign is: help #CloseThePayGap by providing quality paid family leave to ALL Gap employees.