What else can we do to support childbirth besides taking more holidays

2021-11-03

Recently, the Shaanxi Provincial Department of justice solicited opinions on the Shaanxi Provincial Population and family planning regulations (Revised Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the draft). Among them, maternity related holidays have increased significantly, which has attracted extensive public attention. According to the exposure draft, if an employee legally gives birth to children, the maternity leave shall be increased by 60 days on the basis of the legal maternity leave, and the male nursing leave shall be given for 15 days. If the husband and wife live in different places, the male nursing leave shall be given for 20 days. During the period of one to three years of age, both parents shall be given parental leave of no less than 30 days each year. If a female employee has three children, she will be given another half year incentive leave, and her spouse will be given an additional 15 days of nursing leave. On August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the revised draft of the population and family planning law of the people's Republic of China, allowing a couple to have three children. Since then, the provincial administrative regions have successively revised the local family planning regulations, which are connected with the superior law. They have put forward the implementation of the three child fertility policy and advocated age-appropriate marriage and childbearing, eugenics and eugenics; It also puts forward a series of measures to reduce the burden of family fertility, parenting and education, and increase fertility security. At present, the exposure draft of Shaanxi Province has made great strides in holiday adjustment. If female employees have three children, they will be given half a year of incentive leave. Parents under the age of three will enjoy at least 30 days of parental leave each year. These Provisions greatly increase the leave of both parents. Especially for women, the extended maternity leave plus half a year's incentive leave plus parental leave will have more than one year's leave. This is certainly good news for parenting. Both parents have a lot of time to raise infants, which can be said to be a "powerful medicine" to solve the problem of "it is difficult to bring children". However, as a woman, she could not help shivering when she saw the "six-month incentive leave". What impact will such a long holiday bring? It is the employing unit that pays the cost for employees' holidays. Before that, many employers asked about women's marriage and childbearing plans during recruitment, and even some units clearly stipulated the childbearing time of female employees because employers thought that female childbirth brought a "burden" and tried to control and reduce this "burden". To this end, the Ministry of human resources and social security and other nine departments issued a special notice, which clearly stipulates that women's marriage and childbearing shall not be asked during the recruitment process, and birth restriction shall not be taken as a condition for employment. Even so, how to reasonably allocate fertility costs is still an inseparable topic. Giving parents more holidays reduces the burden of childcare, but increases the labor cost of employers. How to digest this cost is undoubtedly a difficult problem for enterprises. Although enterprises also have the social responsibility to support childbirth, it still seems a little radical to increase holidays by so much. In this case, will employers prefer not to recruit female employees? Will women encounter more obstacles in their career? These are all issues that have to be considered while extending the holiday. If women's career path is more difficult, then their willingness to give birth is likely to become lower. This runs counter to the goal of supporting fertility expected by the introduction of new regulations. In fact, building a fertility friendly society is a comprehensive subject that needs the participation of the whole society. Providing holidays is certainly an idea, but it is far from enough. In terms of solving the problem of "difficult parenting", it is also a topic of increasing concern in recent years to further broaden the supply channels of inclusive childcare services and encourage enterprises and other employers to participate in the provision of childcare services. The implementation plan for the "14th five year plan" to actively respond to the population aging project and the construction of nurseries clearly states that "support industrial (industrial) parks and employers to use their own land or facilities to build, reconstruct and expand nurseries service facilities, and inclusive nurseries should be open to the society." Compared with other types of childcare service institutions, enterprises can provide childcare services that are more in line with the actual needs of employees according to the characteristics of employment, help employees better balance the contradiction between work and family, and improve employees' sense of belonging. Of course, even such childcare services are not completely handed over to employers. They also need financial or tax support from government departments, standardized business guidance from professional institutions, and effective supervision by relevant departments. Only with the cooperation of all sectors of society can we solidly broaden the service channels of inclusive sex care. Encouraging all social forces to cooperate, providing more inclusive childcare services and further removing various hidden barriers to women's employment may be a more powerful measure to support childbirth. (outlook new era)

Edit:Yuanqi Tang    Responsible editor:Xiao Yu

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