Have we been able to find any correlation between better parental leave and people being more likely to have kids/more kids? What is the goal of this improved parental leave?
Quality of life
Even parental leave in Europe could be better
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Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#12I am currently in the exact same situation, also in France. And it seems to me that the more we see the progress that has been made on gender equality (by simply talking to your parents… or looking at the US) the more we see the long road ahead:
- why do I have to leave my wife and baby alone at home for many weeks?
- why do every nurse, pediatrician or midwife makes you feel like a outsider (sometimes with this nice condescending remark: « Oh nice, I see that the father has came »)
- in many maternity, why do fathers need to fight to stay with the mother and baby (in France, some I know literally hid in the closet so they were not kicked out in the evening!)
- why do I need to go to the women restrooms and face judging looks simply to change my baby?
The worst of it is that, in the end, it sometimes feels easier to fit into the mold and be a bystander in your baby first months. But I am fighting hard this tendency.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, it could have just said "France" instead of "Europe".
I live in France, and as of July 2021, the law allows for 25 days of paternity leave. Wow, I had no idea; that's awful. In Germany parents share 14 months at two thirds of their average salary (capped at 1800 EUR each, though). Moms get another 6 weeks before their due date. You're also entitled to more time, unpaid.
It’s somehow a very German solution to make the parents share the leave, making spending time with the baby a non renewable resource that directly deprives the other parent.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#14The pay during parental leave in Europe is also low. In France it is capped at about 3,500 euros per month. A software engineer or someone like that might not be able to afford to take a significant parental leave even if the law allows them to take one. Parental leave should really be set up as a simple insurance system. Require employers to get insurance on workers that would cover X months of leave at full salary.…
In Portugal, the pay is 80% but tax free so in high salaries you end up with a massive profit (taxes can reach 50% easily)
That sounds like a shit system
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#15Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#16Why change the title? "You're not people-first until your parental leave policy is"
It's a clickbait / not informative title.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in France, and as of July 2021, the law allows for 25 days of paternity leave. Wow, I had no idea; that's awful. In Germany parents share 14 months at two thirds of their average salary (capped at 1800 EUR each, though). Moms get another 6 weeks before their due date. You're also entitled to more time, unpaid.
It’s somehow a very German solution to make the parents share the leave, making spending time with the baby a non renewable resource that directly deprives the other parent.
So you're saying 7 months each that cannot be shared would be preferable? Not to mention that you are legally entitled to additional unpaid leave (years, if you want).
Such a weird way to construe a relatively generous and beloved solution.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#18Have we been able to find any correlation between better parental leave and people being more likely to have kids/more kids? What is the goal of this improved parental leave?
A try you saying you can’t see the benefit to society of parents actually having time to raise their children? Not everything requires a peer-reviewed study.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#19The pay during parental leave in Europe is also low. In France it is capped at about 3,500 euros per month. A software engineer or someone like that might not be able to afford to take a significant parental leave even if the law allows them to take one. Parental leave should really be set up as a simple insurance system. Require employers to get insurance on workers that would cover X months of leave at full salary.…
I think it is just fair to cap it to maximum social security. After all that is the level society has considered acceptable minimum for survival.
Re: Even parental leave in Europe could be better
#20It's utterly ludicrous that anyone would be in a position in which they would have to beg, cap in hand, for the time to see their children.
Just say no, live a simpler life if needed...