It is recommended that the parental leave for men be extended appropriately, that the maternity leave be compulsorily granted to men accompanying women for one month, that the paid paternity leave for men be increased to 30 to 42 days... During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, a number of deputies and committee members put forward suggestions for increasing holidays for Chinese men, which aroused concern.
The picture shows medical staff at a medical institution in Qinghai Province nursing babies. Photo by Sun Ying
In the context of China's encouragement of having three children and the increase of women's maternity leave in various places, the above proposals have two main purposes, one is to promote men to take on more childcare responsibilities, and the other is to reduce the discrimination brought about by women's employment.
At present, there is a big difference between the number of paternity leave days for Chinese women and men. Maternity leave ranges from approximately 128 to 190 days throughout the country, while paternity leave for men ranges from 7 to 30 days.
Jiang Shengnan, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a researcher at Wenzhou University, believes that the difference in the number of days between female maternity leave and male paternity leave has further increased, which may exacerbate the employment discrimination suffered by women due to childbirth, and at the same time is not conducive to increasing men's participation in child-rearing activities, thereby reducing the willingness of working women to have children. In order to give men more time to care for mothers and newborns, it is recommended that men's paid paternity leave be increased to 30 to 42 days.
Xie Wenmin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Hubei Shouyi Law Firm, suggested that all localities should be encouraged to increase the incentive maternity leave for the birth of a second child in light of actual conditions. Men are also required to accompany women who give birth to maternity leave for one month, and this month should also be mandatory, so that male compatriots share the obligation to raise children.
As these suggestions rushed to the hot search, it also triggered a heated discussion among Chinese netizens. Proponents argue that this will help reshape the division of childcare responsibilities within the family, avoid "widowhood parenting" and reduce discrimination against women in the workplace. Opponents say the effect may not be ideal, how many men will actually be at home with children instead of doing other things, there is no direct link to alleviating female employment discrimination, and may lead to a reduction in family income.
At present, Chinese women are investing more time in the family and child-rearing. The 2018 National Time Utilization Survey Communiqué shows that the average time spent on household chores per day is 45 minutes for men and 2 hours and 6 minutes for women. The average time spent with residents in the care of their children is 17 minutes for men and 53 minutes for women.
On December 28, 2021, the children of the Gansu Provincial Women's Federation Nursery School watched the science popularization tour exhibition of excellent photographic works of wild animals in Lanzhou. (Data map) Xu Xue photo
Feng Wenmeng, director and researcher of the Research Office of the Social Development Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the China News Agency that due to the inertial thinking formed by the traditional concept of family division of labor and the actual differences in gender in the social division of labor, the current situation of Chinese men participating in family child-rearing is indeed in urgent need of improvement, and it is necessary to further enhance the enthusiasm of men to participate in child-rearing, so that more people realize that child-rearing is not only the responsibility of women, and at the same time promote the improvement of relevant systems to form a better family child-rearing environment and improve the quality of child-rearing.
Feng Wenmeng pointed out that promoting the increase of male childcare or paternity leave can improve male childcare participation to a certain extent, but from the perspective of existing practices at home and abroad, only the number of days is set in terms of quantity, and the implementation will face many challenges in the case that men's related skills training and labor, salary and social security systems still need to be improved.
The first is to objectively look at the differences in the division of labor between men and women in parenting. The timing of male parenting or paternity leave needs to be set according to the role that the man can actually play. If men take time off only at home, they cannot play a substitute or supplementary role in women's childcare, but it is a waste of human capital and will increase the cost of family and society.
The picture shows the scene of the job fair organized by the qinghai provincial government. (Infographic) Photo by Sun Rui
Second, increasing male childcare leave and reducing female employment discrimination cannot be simply equated. The factors affecting women's employment are multifaceted, and in reality, even among women who do not need or have completed childcare, there are problems of different employment benefits. The adoption of the "I can't come, let's not come" approach is not conducive to solving the problem of employment discrimination in gender.
Third, it is necessary to have supporting relevant systems. Judging from the existing local practice of implementing male parenting leave, due to the lack of operable institutional arrangements and reasonable cost sharing mechanisms, the cost of male leave is often borne by the unit itself, so it is difficult to land, and the holiday has become a "paper welfare".
Feng Wenmeng believes that to build a fertility-friendly society and completely eliminate discrimination against women in employment, it is necessary to adhere to and comprehensively promote the reform and improvement of relevant systems for a long time. Under the premise of respecting natural differences and improving the efficiency of the use of human resources in society as a whole, we will change the absence of men in childcare and achieve gender equality in childcare.
Reporter: Li Jinlei
Source: China News Service