LAST AUGUST, I gave birth to my first child, Josephine. Bringing her into the world was one of the greatest moments of my life and she continues to be a joy, but she’s also a struggle to care for beyond just sleepless nights. I, like other teachers and school employees across the state, receive zero paid pregnancy or maternity leave. California school districts treat pregnancy as an “illness.” An educator who takes leave because of pregnancy or for recovery after giving birth is forced to use accumulated sick leave.

Here in California, 73% of the teaching workforce is composed of women. Nationwide, roughly half of all U.S. teachers have children who live at home. Because women giving birth tend to be younger and teachers having children are generally at an early stage in their careers, most, like me, will not have banked enough sick leave to carry them through a pregnancy-related absence. Once sick leave is exhausted, mothers go on differential pay (their salary minus the cost of a substitute) to cover pregnancy-related disabilities, resulting in a 50% or greater pay cut.

This loss of sick leave to pregnancy-related disability is a double-dose of gender discrimination. Not only are most women forced to exhaust their sick leave early in their careers, they also are less likely than their male colleagues to have an adequate leave bank if they later have a serious illness or medical need.

As a new mom, it is unfathomable to me that most of us must choose between a paycheck and recovering from childbirth while caring for our newborns. Educators devote their lives to their students; yet, when it comes to their own families, they have to constantly sacrifice because of the lack of basic supports such as paid pregnancy leave.

I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had in the teachers’ lounge with female educators still recovering from childbirth or a miscarriage who are forced back to work, or mothers who should be home due to sickness but are working because they have no sick leave to fall back on. This struggle for adequate paid family leave is forcing many teachers out of the profession.

If they stick around, it doesn’t get much better. When a teacher leaves the classroom at the end of their career, unused sick leave is converted to service credit for retirement. In real dollars, this means that, on average, women earn almost $100,000 less in retirement than their male colleagues.

California is currently facing a severe teacher shortage. Among the factors driving this: low pay compared to other fields, a lack of support systems, and educators choosing to leave due to stress and political attacks on the profession. The absence of paid maternity leave is certainly a contributing factor — and one that can be addressed.

Assembly Bill 2901 (Aguiar-Curry), the Pregnancy Leave for Educators Act, would grant public school employees up to 14 weeks of leave with full pay when pregnant or experiencing pregnancy-related health issues. It’s important legislation that is long overdue.

AB 2901 will bring California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, into alignment with a worldwide, fundamental standard for reproductive rights. Most advanced democracies are far ahead of us in treating maternity leave as a human right. And many states have recently passed legislation for maternity leave — including Tennessee, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

It fills me with hope that our union is leading the charge to improve the lives of educators and our families. Passage of AB 2901 will benefit all of California’s children by helping the state’s public schools recruit and retain teachers. Additionally, California’s public schools, which have a mission to focus on the well-being of children, will be able to contribute to the well-being of a large group of children — the children of their own workforce.