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European Women’s Lobby seeks support for changes to maternity leave directive
The European Women’s Lobby is asking people to send a model letter to their Member of the European Parliament asking them to support certain revisions to the Maternity Leave Directive.
These include giving mothers 20 weeks of full salary compensation and protection against dismissal for six months after giving birth.
These proposals require a majority vote in the parliament, so download the model letter on the EWL website and get lobbying.
I’m not sure that this is such a good idea – surely we want equality, not special treatment?
All that happens when you increase maternity provisions is that it reinforces the glass ceiling. Businesses are not going to recruit women into hard-to-recruit-for positions or key roles if there is this provision in place.
What about the women who don’t want children?
Or the women who run the businesses who certainly don’t get this level of leave or job protection?
The better alternative is to give everyone a sabatical for time worked at a company and then there is no gender bias or resentment from the rest of the workforce.
Sorry, but I don’t agree. The law on maternity is to ensure that women are not discriminated against in the workplace (although they still are, despite the legislation), it is not to give them special treatment. it’s also there to recognise that women, as opposed to men, give birth and breastfeed children. They need time off to recover from the stresses and strains of birth as well as to bond with their babies. As for the idea of giving everyone a sabattical – that would have to be made compulsory to ensure that pregnant women get the time off that they need to ensure the human race continues. I can just imagine what the CBI would have to say about that.
But having children is a personal lifestyle choice. Not all women do it, so why is this legislation universally applied without the option of opting out? For example, we have European working directives about the maximum amount of hours that people are supposed to work, but there is the ability to opt out if the job demands more hours or if the employee wishes to work more hours. Women should be given the option of whether they want to be subject to the under-the-table discrimination that these laws encourage.
Even if you do want children, all these laws do is simply make it imperative that companies find other excuses not to promote women and perpetuate the myth that women should be able to have it all.
I believe that women can do anything a man can. But I don’t believe any man would reasonably be expected to have no sleep, do all the housework, put on heels and make himself presentable, then do a full day’s work, battle the commute, come home entertain the family, cook dinner and then be a goddess in the bedroom. It’s just not possible – but women believe it is and make themselves martyrs. We need to stop lying to women that “having it all” is possible – it’s not.
You have to choose what is important to do properly and if you aren’t doing your job properly then your employer should be able to discipline you.
Hi, Caroline, thanks for responding so quickly. Women do not have to take all their maternity leave – only two weeks is compulsory (four weeks if you work in a factory I believe).
The argument that greater maternity leave works against women because employers then don’t employ/promote them etc is an old one and obviously holds some water (or obviously we wouldn’t need the protection in the first place). However, I would say that it’s better to deal with the discrimination rather than allow this insidious behaviour to carry on. Otherwise it will give the green light to employers that it’s okay to discriminate against women at any level and in any way they see fit. Maternity legislation is just one piece in the jigsaw in legislation protecting women at work – that’s why we have laws about pay, harassment etc as well.
In terms of pretending that women “can have it all”, again I have some sympathy with what you say. However, rather than say women should either work or have children (a choice men don’t have to make so that hardly helps equality), why not do what countries like Sweden do which is to offer extended paid paternity leave to men. About 90% of men take paternity leave in Sweden and it’s seen as odd if men don’t. This extended leave is due to be introduced here next year and I think will help enormously. If employers think that men might also take leave, then maybe they’ll think again about discriminating against women.