According to nandu reporter's previous statistics, after the implementation of the three-child birth policy, 25 provinces have completed the revision of provincial population and family planning regulations, and various localities have basically extended women's maternity leave by 30-60 days, and many places have added parental leave for parents. At present, in the face of the actual needs of increasing the fertility rate and alleviating the aging of the population, topics such as what are the factors affecting the family's willingness to have children, whether extended maternity leave will affect women's employment, discrimination in marriage and childbirth in the workplace, and the cost of childcare have been hotly discussed.
At the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, a number of committee members and deputies suggested that men be forced to take maternity leave, strengthen the responsibility of fathers to raise children, and reduce the employment difficulties of women caused by gender inequality in childcare responsibilities, so as to relieve women's worries about childbearing and enhance the willingness of families to have children.
On July 10, 2021, at the Pregnant Women School of Shijiazhuang Maternity Hospital, doctors instructed "fathers-to-be" to practice newborn nursing movements. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Liang Zidong)
Today, the topic of #Recommending mandatory men to accompany women on maternity leave for a month# has been on Weibo hot search, and there has also been a discussion about whether men should take maternity leave, and netizens have different opinions on this issue.
Some netizens support men taking maternity leave, they believe that "having a child is not a matter of one person, the month when a girl gives birth to a child is the most in need of care", "the child is two people, the father should also take the child", and some netizens said that this move will help alleviate gender discrimination in the workplace.
But some netizens said, "If men take maternity leave every day to sleep late, play games, and do not do housework, it is not necessary."
Last year, many places revised their family planning regulations: parental leave for parents was added
Around November last year, many provinces across the country successively adopted newly revised population and family planning regulations to clearly implement the "three-child" birth policy, while the supporting birth support policies have also attracted much attention. In this round of reform, parental leave has been added in many places.
The family planning regulations of Zhejiang Province make it clear that for couples who have children in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, the woman shall extend the maternity leave by 60 days for one child and 90 days for the second and third children on the basis of enjoying the maternity leave stipulated by the state. The 15-day nursing leave for the man remains unchanged. Between the three years of age of the child, both husband and wife are entitled to 10 days of parental leave each year. The maternity leave and maternity leave of female employees in Shanghai are added together, and there can be 158 days of leave during childbirth. Couples who comply with the provisions of laws and regulations may enjoy parental leave for 5 days each year before their children reach the age of three.
The newly revised family planning regulations of Jiangsu Province stipulate that the woman shall extend the maternity leave by not less than 30 days on the basis of the maternity leave prescribed by the state, and the man shall enjoy nursing leave for not less than 15 days. Hebei's family planning regulations make it clear that the maternity leave for three children is extended to 90 days, and the parents of infants and young children under the age of three are 10 days of parental leave each year. In Anhui Province, for couples who have children in accordance with the provisions of the regulations, the woman shall extend the maternity leave by 60 days on the basis of the maternity leave prescribed by the State; the man shall enjoy 30 days of nursing leave; and before the child reaches the age of 6, the husband and wife shall be given 10 days of parental leave each year.
Early education teachers are guiding children to play games. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Ying
Does Extended Maternity Leave Affect Employment? Population experts recommend clarifying cost-sharing mechanisms
At present, many places in the country have extended women's maternity leave by 30-60 days, and many people are worried that the extension of maternity leave will affect women's employment.
In this regard, on January 20 this year, at the regular press conference of the National Health Commission, Song Jian, deputy director of the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Min University, said in response to a question from a Nandu reporter, "Holidays are not a thing, paid maternity leave may be a thing, can women's income be guaranteed during the holiday, can women return to their original posts smoothly after taking maternity leave, her position and her original income are not affected, and the childcare sharing mechanism must be clear." ”
Song Jian said that paid maternity leave, as an important birth support measure, is conducive to the arrangement of time between husband and wife within the family, and has an irreplaceable role in the healthy recovery of the mother after childbirth and the proper care of the newborn baby. People have concerns about extending maternity leave, and the key lies in whether paid maternity leave can be truly implemented, which requires clarifying the cost-sharing mechanism of vacation. Without cost-sharing mechanisms, extended maternity leave could affect women's incomes and even exacerbate employment discrimination among women.
Song Jian said that the cost of childbirth should be shared by the state, enterprises and families, and a variety of measures should be used, such as government subsidies, tax reductions and other means, to appropriately share the cost of employers, so as to alleviate the worries of families, especially women of childbearing age.
In the obstetrics clinic of Fujian Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, nurses guide a pregnant woman who has made an appointment for a maternity examination through her mobile phone to seek medical treatment. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Song Weiwei
Two sessions of sound
Several representatives of the Committee recommended that men be forced to take maternity leave
At the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, a number of members and deputies suggested that men be forced to take maternity leave, strengthen the responsibility of fathers to have children, and reduce the employment difficulties of women caused by gender inequality in childcare responsibilities, so as to relieve women's worries about childbearing and enhance the willingness of families to have children. Let's see what they say.
Feng Danlong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: It is recommended that men and women be forced to take maternity leave and maternity reward leave
At this year's two sessions of the National People's Congress, Feng Danlong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, will submit a proposal proposing to force men and women to take maternity leave and maternity reward leave. Feng Danlong believes that although there are many factors affecting fertility, such as housing price pressure, work pressure, and educational pressure, the core of increasing fertility rate is to enhance women's dominance and initiative in childbirth, dispel women's fertility concerns, and enhance women's willingness to have children. Feng Danlong believes that especially to support the balance of women's vocational and childbearing, ensuring the right to work is the key to enhancing women's willingness to have children.
At present, in response to the three-child policy, many places extend women's maternity leave, and consider giving birth to women to get rest. Feng Danlong believes that these "benefits" will lead to the company's reluctance to recruit female employees, exacerbating gender discrimination in employment and affecting women's employment and career development. Under such a "welfare" policy, women will only further reduce their willingness to have children and will not have children or less. Therefore, such policies to extend maternity leave need to be matched to avoid discrimination against women in the workplace.
Feng Danlong pointed out that the "father's maternity leave" implemented by European countries has increased the fertility rate. For example, British men have 2 weeks of paid maternity leave. In France and Germany, men are entitled to 4 weeks of paid maternity leave. In Sweden, for every child born, parents share 16 months of paid maternity leave and stipulate that two months must be enjoyed by men. The European policy of taking maternity leave for men has a significant effect. In the 21st century, fertility rates in major European countries have returned to high levels.
Feng Danlong believes that the experience of Europe shows that if you want to increase the fertility rate, you cannot blindly require women to have children, let alone forcibly promote the "welfare" that backfires, from the perspective of women, to truly relieve their worries about childbirth, through the formulation of supporting policies that force men and women to take maternity leave, so that men have the conditions to assume more childcare obligations, so that women can bid farewell to the situation of "widowed parenting", and fundamentally enhance the willingness of both husband and wife to have children.
Feng Danlong suggested that the types and timing of maternity leave should be clarified, and the time spent on women's recovery and other purposes should be clarified. Both spouses shall share maternity leave and maternity incentive leave. In addition, Feng Danlong also suggested that, on the one hand, strengthen the promotion of male maternity leave and maternity incentive leave, so that men's maternity leave and maternity incentive leave become a social consensus; on the other hand, legal means should be used to restrain employers, so that employers realize that men's maternity leave and maternity incentive leave are as mandatory as women.
Nurses examine a newborn child in a baby incubator. (Xinhua News Agency)
Xie Wenmin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: It is recommended that families who have children be given monthly subsidies
Xie Wenmin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Hubei Shouyi Law Firm, suggested that families with children be given monthly subsidies, encourage all localities to increase incentive maternity leave for the birth of two children in light of actual conditions, and suggest that men accompany women to take maternity leave for one month are recommended.
Xie Wenmin said that after the comprehensive "three-child" policy was liberalized, it had a major impact on women and families, but it still failed to fundamentally reverse the downward trend of the birth population, and the family's willingness to have children was still not high. Recently, she said in an interview with reporters that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security should improve and perfect the birth security system, in addition to improving the birth allowance already covered by the current social security, it should also add a birth subsidy system, which should be implemented in parallel with the birth allowance. Xie Wenmin believes that the "post-80s", "post-90s" and "post-00s" are facing the problem of too high fertility costs, and economic fertility subsidies may promote women and families with fertility to have second and third births.
Xie Wenmin also suggested that all localities should be encouraged to increase the incentive maternity leave for the birth of two children in light of actual conditions. The current 98-day maternity leave should be appropriately extended to half a year, the flexibility of maternity leave should be increased, and newborn mothers should be allowed to disperse leave according to the situation; Vigorously increase the cost of childcare time for families of childbearing age, so as to better apply the birth subsidy system. At the same time, she said, the most important point is that the spouse of the woman who gives birth should also accompany the maternity leave for one month, and this month should also be mandatory, so that the male compatriots share the obligation to raise the child.
Xie Wenmin frankly said that China's childcare industry is currently undersupplied, and it is mostly distributed in first-tier cities, which does not reflect inclusiveness. Therefore, she suggested that we should actively promote the opening of nursery classes in qualified kindergartens, and incorporate infant and child care services that meet the requirements of receiving birth subsidies into the inclusive preschool education system dominated by public institutions to make up for the shortcomings of family childcare. "Let children aged 0 to 3 be able to be childcare, so that mothers of children aged 0 to 3 can work with peace of mind and hard in the process of growing up, so that there is no worries." Xie Wenmin said.
Doctors demonstrate newborn care actions for pregnant family members. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Liang Zidong)
Jiang Shengnan, deputy to the National People's Congress: It is proposed to increase the paid paternity leave for men
At this year's two sessions, Jiang Shengnan, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a researcher at Wenzhou University, will bring a proposal on improving the provisions on maternity, paternity and parental leave. In Jiang Shengnan's view, the current regulations on maternity leave and paternity leave mainly focus on increasing women's leave, which exacerbates the adverse impact of childbirth on women's employment. She suggested increasing men's paid paternity leave so that men could also devote themselves to housework, coexistence and childcare with their partners.
Jiang Shengnan said that all places are extending maternity leave for women of childbearing age, but the paternity leave for men is only ten days, or even less than 10 days. In fact, men are also facing reproductive pressure, and the "35-year-old crisis" makes them dare not talk about marriage and have children. In addition, the short paternity leave also leads to the lack of time to take care of their wives and children. Society should also give men of childbearing age enough space to get married and have children, so that they have more time to devote themselves to housework, coexistence with their partners, and child-rearing. Therefore, Jiang Shengnan suggested increasing male paid paternity leave to 30-42 days to increase male childcare participation. This number of days is a reference to the 42-day puerperium period for women, which is when they are in great need of spousal care.
In terms of improving maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave, Jiang Shengnan believes that maternity leave can be divided into two parts: compulsory maternity leave and flexible maternity leave according to the affordability of social security funds, the nature and strength of different enterprises and institutions, and the different demands of working women for childbirth. For example, during the statutory 128-day maternity leave, wages are mainly paid by the social security fund. On this basis, enterprises and institutions can take flexible maternity leave as a benefit, decide on the number of flexible maternity leave days and whether to pay wages and salaries, and clearly write it into the internal system.
In addition, many regions have promulgated new parental leave regulations, but parental leave is mostly limited to the child before the age of 3, between 5 and 15 days. Jiang Shengnan suggested that parental leave should be promoted nationwide as soon as possible, and parents should enjoy parental leave before the child is 6 years old. The corresponding number of parental leave days for each child is 5 days for each parent, with a maximum of 15 days.
On July 10, 2021, at the Pregnant Women's School of Shijiazhuang Maternity Hospital, coaches guided pregnant women to carry out pregnant women ball exercise training. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Liang Zidong)
Zhou Yanfang, deputy to the National People's Congress: It is recommended that the special deduction of individual tax be advanced to before the child is three years old
Zhou Yanfang, deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy general manager (presiding over the work) of Pacific Medical and Health Management Co., Ltd., put forward eight suggestions on how to reduce the pressure of childcare for women, safeguard the rights and interests of career development, and enhance their willingness to have children. Zhou Yanfang said that only by setting up a comprehensive support plan covering marriage and love, childbirth, education, housing, pension, social security and other aspects, and optimizing the supply of public services and the allocation of public resources, establishing a reasonable sharing mechanism for individuals, families, enterprises and the government, comprehensively supporting the protection of women's rights and interests, and reducing the pressure of women's child-rearing, can we fully guarantee family development and enhance women's willingness to have children from the root.
At present, the parental leave of fathers in most cities in China is only 5 to 10 days, and women bear the main childcare responsibilities in the family, which invisibly increases the discrimination of enterprises against women. Zhou Yanfang suggested that it be recommended to extend the paid parental leave for men to 30 days and enforce it. Strengthen paternal parenting responsibilities and reduce women's employment difficulties due to gender inequalities in parenting responsibilities.
Zhou Yanfang suggested that the support for individual taxes should be increased to reduce the tax burden on families. She pointed out that the current special additional deduction for individual tax mainly includes preschool education and academic education, and children can only enjoy it after they reach the age of 3. At present, children begin to receive education before the age of three, and have the cost of food, clothing, housing and transportation, Zhou Yanfang suggested that the special deduction be advanced to before the age of three to further reduce the burden on taxpayers.
In addition, in order to prevent childbearing from becoming an obstacle to women's career development, Zhou Yanfang suggested that incentives should be given to enterprises that actively employ female employees, and the cost of hiring female employees should be appropriately reduced. For enterprises with female employees taking maternity leave, considering that the contract period covers pre-childbirth and for a period of time after the end of maternity leave, they will enjoy a certain proportion of additional value-added tax concessions, and the proportion will increase according to the number of women giving birth; the gender quota system will be implemented for the recruitment of organs and public institutions, stipulating that the proportion of new employees entering the workforce each year shall not be less than a certain proportion, and the specific amount can be adjusted according to the nature of the industry to which the enterprise belongs. Guide and encourage employers to actively assume social responsibility.
Comprehensive: Nandu reporter Feng Yiran
Comprehensive from Nandu's previous reports (Nandu reporters Wu Bin, Huang Liling, Liang Xiaochan), China News Network