WUNRN
European Women's Lobby - EWL
Reconciliation of private and professional life – Should maternity leave pay the price of the failure to engage men in their share of care?
The recent proposal of the
European Commission (October 2008) to increase the minimum length of maternity
leave and to extend the mandatory period, currently at two weeks, to six weeks,
has sparked debate among feminists and others as to whether women should be singled
out in this way as this form of leave only relates to women. The main
problem is that the maternity leave proposal is just one of three proposals
currently on the table part of the European ‘package’ of measures to reconcile
private and professional life but those proposals are being dealt with in
different ways. Two of these proposals, namely amendments to the 1992 Maternity
Leave Directive and repeal of the 1986 Directive on Self Employed workers and
their Assisting Spouses are both being discussed by the Council and European
Parliament (Women’s Rights Committee) as part of a co-decision procedure. The
third proposal, amending the 1996 Parental Leave Directive is being discussed
by the Social Partners who are invited to make proposals in the form of a
Social Partners Framework Agreement. It is without a doubt that it is this
third proposal that holds the key to shifting the traditional division of (paid
and unpaid) work between women and men in which women’s over representation in
caring for family members has led to obstacles and discrimination in other
areas of life (employment, decision-making.) Another problem is that the Social
Partners’ discussions are not open to other actors and therefore influencing
this process is difficult with the result that the other two proposals, and
particularly the one on maternity leave is considered to be the opportunity for
changing the unequal division of paid and unpaid work in which women and men
are far from being equal. Should maternity leave pay the price for the
failure to engage men in their share of care?
The European Women’s Lobby
believes that women must not pay this price. Women’s increasing participation
in the labour market must not occult the reality of many women’s lives; any
attempt to undermine women’s right to an improvement in maternity provisions
would reinforce the already prevailing image of a labour market organised
around a the male life-cycle, disregarding the role of women as workers and the
fact that the structure of the labour market must take into account the
reality, aspirations and needs of both women and men. The EWL is proposing amendments to the maternity leave proposal which includes
24 weeks fully paid leave of which the six mandatory weeks are not subjected to
any previous work record; fully paid additional leave in exceptional
circumstances relating to the health of the mother and/or child and a one-year
protection period for women returning to work.
In relation to self employed women and assisting partners, EWL amendments
include six week mandatory (maternity) leave and the obligation of Member
States to provide social security coverage to assisting spouses (changing this
to assisting “partners”).
Proposals for one-month
fully paid paternity leave has been included into the proposal for parental leave as well as the sharing of parental leave
amongst partners by guaranteeing non transferable periods of leave and that
leave for the care of children and/or family members is fully paid to ensure
that men take their share of care. Information: Collins@womenlobby.org
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