EC proposes paid maternity leave of 18 weeks

[evercloserunion]

From the Irish Times.

The European Commission proposed today to extend the minimum fully paid maternity leave in the 27-nation bloc from 14 weeks to 18 and to give better job protection to women taking or returning from such leave.

Full story here.

[Aindriu]

I know that it will go down like a lead balloon, but I am against paid maternity leave. It is completely non-productive and causes many employers to not recruit women on the basis that they may get pregnant. It costs industry and tax payers a fortune each year.

[infamous-el-guapo]

I know that it will go down like a lead balloon, but I am against paid maternity leave. It is completely non-productive and causes many employers to not recruit women on the basis that they may get pregnant. It costs industry and tax payers a fortune each year.

An unsurprisingly sexist view

[jfk2008]

Surely it should be paid parental leave, split evenly between both parents?

[ibis]

Surely it should be paid parental leave, split evenly between both parents?

Ideally, splittable, not pre-split.

[Aindriu]

Not really. There are countless employers who will not employ qualified young women purely on the basis that they may get pregnant. The employer then has to recruit someone on a temporary basis to cover the post whilst the woman is on maternity leave. How can this be fair to the employer and male employees?

Surely in this enlightened age with contraception, women should know when/if they are planning to start a family? Either we have full sexual equality or we don't. At the moment, with maternity leave the way it is, we don't.

[ibis]

Not really. There are countless employers who will not employ qualified young women purely on the basis that they may get pregnant. The employer then has to recruit someone on a temporary basis to cover the post whilst the woman is on maternity leave. How can this be fair to the employer and male employees?

Surely in this enlightened age with contraception, women should know when/if they are planning to start a family? Either we have full sexual equality or we don't. At the moment, with maternity leave the way it is, we don't.

Amazingly enough, conception isn't that simple, and there are hundreds of other pressures that can determine the timing, and determine that the timing isn't convenient for anyone.

Plus, split parental leave would sort that issue out - no point in not employing women if male employees are equally entitled to leave.

[He3]

The article says that self-employed women can benefit from this. How?

[infamous-el-guapo]

Not really. There are countless employers who will not employ qualified young women purely on the basis that they may get pregnant. The employer then has to recruit someone on a temporary basis to cover the post whilst the woman is on maternity leave. How can this be fair to the employer and male employees?

Surely in this enlightened age with contraception, women should know when/if they are planning to start a family? Either we have full sexual equality or we don't. At the moment, with maternity leave the way it is, we don't.

Aside from the fact that it is a human right to choose to have a family, a woman getting pregnant is not an inconvenience to the business sector. It is criminal to penalise women for not living up to a working week designed by men.

If you want to talk about sexual equality consider the fact that if men were the one's who got pregnant, 18 weeks leave would be an absolute minimum.

[Aindriu]

Amazingly enough, conception isn't that simple, and there are hundreds of other pressures that can determine the timing, and determine that the timing isn't convenient for anyone.

Plus, split parental leave would sort that issue out - no point in not employing women if male employees are equally entitled to leave.

Agreed in part. Men are definitely discriminated against at the moment.