How Much Should We Pay For Maternity Leave?
What is the line between providing too good a maternity package and discouraging employers from taking on working mothers?
It's a vital issue in Europe at the moment, as the European Parliament prepares to vote next month on increasing maternity rights.
The area of the amendments to the Pregnant Workers Directive which has caused most consternation is increasing the time period for maternity leave on full pay.
In the UK, for instance, women currently get the first six weeks on 90% full pay followed by 33 weeks on around £124 a week on statutory maternity pay. The European Commission proposal is to allow women 20 weeks maternity leave on full pay at an estimated cost of £2.5 billion in the UK alone.
As the number of women needing to work to pay the bills rises, there is a greater need to finance this properly. Many women cannot afford to take time out for long if their earnings reduce substantially during that time.
On the other hand, the World Health Organisation recommends babies be breastfed for the first six months. While milk can be expressed, this ignores other positives around breastfeeding other than the actual content of the milk, such as bonding and security.
However, increasing the amount companies have to pay to employees who have just given birth will surely, in the current economic climate, put them off hiring women of childbearing years. Moreover, it is unlikely the Government will step in to pick up the tab in the immediate future, even if, in the long term, it is in everyone's interest to get women to stay in their jobs and to bond with their children.
Step forward the fathers. If we are to avoid women being seen as financial drains on a company, fathers surely have to share the maternity leave. This is why schemes where fathers share maternity leave are crucial.
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