“I’m optimistic that in not too long the U.S. will join the rest of the world,” said Vicki Shabo, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families. “We are the only high-wealth developed country that doesn’t guarantee paid paternity leave, and one of two that doesn’t offer sick leave to workers. Of the whole world, we’re one of two countries — us and Papua New Guinea — that don’t guarantee paid leave for new moms.” Shabo cited a survey of 185 nations by the International Labour Organization.

Vicki Shabo, vice-president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said the San Francisco measure could help boost momentum at the national level. “It’s great to see local leaders stepping up,” she said, noting that California’s first-of-its-kind law served as a model for other states. “There’s a growing consensus that the nation must do something to address this.”

A report from Women Employed estimated 460,000 private-sector workers in Chicago don’t have access to paid sick days. Another report, from the National Partnership for Women & Families, put the number at 2.1 million people in Illinois.

“This is history in the making,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, who estimated that 6.4 million workers in the state who are currently without an employee-sponsored paid family leave benefit.

“Military families make enormous sacrifices to keep our country safe, and they need and deserve policies that make it possible to remain economically secure when they need time off to care for their families,” added Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Two months before, the National Partnership for Women and Families compiled a summary of legislative action on paid sick days at the state and local levels.

One way to design workplaces that champion equality without further stigmatizing women’s bodies is to create policies that have universal applications, says Vicki Shabo, vice president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

It’s this model that advocacy organizations tend to favor. “Tax credits in our view fall short,” Vicki Shabo, Vice President at the National Partnership for Women & Families, tells Fast Company, “because they are entirely dependent on the employer…and there’s no evidence that they change or incentivize employer behaviors . . . [so] you end up perpetuating the inequality that already exists in terms of access to paid leave.”

And pregnancy discrimination charges are increasing, with the number of allegations rising by about one-third during the past decade, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Some states now give paid time off, including California and New Jersey, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonpartisan organization. “Everybody, no matter who they work for, what job they have, or what their circumstance, needs access to paid leave,” said Vicki Shabo of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

That’s why the National Partnership for Women & Families, the advocacy organization that authored the original FMLA law, as well as other groups, has continually worked to improve and expand it.