For some expectant parents, 2016 was a banner year and December a flag-waver: More than two dozen large employers announced that they would bolster their paid family leave benefits.

There are concrete ways women (and their allies) can advocate for themselves at work, in spite of resistance — and even hostility — from on high.

Mike Cruse is the father of a new baby. His daughter Olivia was born in July. But like most fathers in the U.S., he doesn’t get paid parental leave.

The D.C. Council gave final approval to a plan that will provide private-sector workers some of the nation’s most generous family and medical leave benefits, fighting off a last-minute revolt by the city’s business establishment and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser.

Utah is a state that emphasizes strengthening families. However, our current treatment of working mothers does not reflect this community value.

My name is Cecile Johnston, and I am the owner of Jumping Raindrops Sewing and Design in Montpelier. I’m writing to address the importance of a statewide family and medical leave insurance program and shine a light on the very real implications such a program would have for families throughout the state of Vermont.

We were glad to hear the President-elect talk about the need for relief for working women. But those of us who have fought for decades for affordable leave cannot support his flawed proposal for paid maternity leave, and members of Congress who believe in real policy change for working families should not support it either.

Starting Jan. 1, Ikea’s 14,000 salaried and hourly workers in the U.S. will receive up to four months of paid parental leave. Lars Petersson, head of Ikea’s U.S. operations, told the Wall Street Journal that the company expects the program to improve productivity and reduce turnover.

Too often new parents feel terrified—and not just about the daunting prospect of raising a child. Many of them must grapple with a gut-wrenching decision: How quickly can they leave their newborn to get back to their job? Few can afford to go without salaries for long or to weaken their future wage-earning potential by leaving their job altogether.

As National Adoption Month comes to a close, we reflected on local employers who’ve made an impact in the lives of employees who adopt. Extending paid parental leave is a trend several large banks have joined this year to build in more flexibility and financial support for employees to care for their families.

When taking time off after giving birth means risking a paycheck, everything becomes arduous — healing, bonding with the baby, breastfeeding. Governments need to invest in guaranteed paid family and medical leave and other policies so that families don’t have to win the job lottery to give their children the healthiest start to life.

[Parents are] making crazy decisions to try and figure out how to keep their jobs, make enough money to provide for their families and still have time to spend with their kids. Nearly one out of every four women who gives birth in the United States goes back to work just two weeks later.

While a number of major companies have made significant strides in providing paid family leave this year, and the benefits of these policies are widely reported, a majority of the U.S.’s top employers still lag far behind.

The paid leave arms race isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. While some employers—notably those in consulting and tech—have recently made splashy updates to their leave policies, the vast majority are staying quiet.

For women who struggle with conflicts between work and home life, there is a moment in the film, “Equity,” that is ruefully familiar. The drama takes place at an investment bank where ambitious women are delicately managing career moves.

British actress Keira Knightley is Harper’s Bazaar UK December cover star, and yesterday, she received the magazine’s Theatre Icon award during their Women of the Year Awards ceremony. Inside the magazine’s pages, Knightley touched on her personal life by commenting on the state of parental leave and child care.

There was a time not long ago when employees were supposed to leave family issues at home. The stress of caring for an elderly parent, a sick spouse, or a newborn was something better left outside the confines of the office. It was even taboo to take too much time off to deal with something personal, other than a short maternity leave.

New York state and San Francisco passed new paid leave laws in April. Etsy, Twitter and Deloitte are some of the latest companies to implement generous paid leave policies that raise the bar for all employers. And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made headlines when he took two months off for the birth of his daughter.

For many people, economic policy brings to mind issues like taxes, trade, and interest rates—the subjects that dominate the financial news. Child care and family leave go into another basket typically conceived of as “women’s issues” and implicitly treated as irrelevant to economic growth and prosperity.