介绍:
Xiaohua: Recently, an NPC deputy Wang Youjun suggested that China should prolong maternity leave to 3 years, and social security fund and national fiscal revenue should provide three years of maternity allowance, in order to ease the burden of new moms.
Do we need, or let’s first see, do we not enjoy long enough maternity leave in the first place?
Heyang: Well, it just seems like it will be better if Chinese moms could not only reach the international standard in this area, but also get a little bit more time for them to recuperate from the very stressful and painful process of reproduction, and also finding more time for herself and to breastfeed the child, and all those kind of things. At the moment, she only gets 98 days, three months and a little bit more.
John: Well, it depends. I think China has an interesting maternity leave policy, where the base for people who work in private companies is about 98 days, there are special stipulations and different policies depending on the type of birth it is. I’m not exactly sure how it worked out, but my wife when she gave birth to our son, she got about 4 months maternity leave. I’m not sure again how exactly that worked.
Xiaohua: Actually I got more than half a year of maternity leave, ‘cause I think in SOEs, in public institutions, and government departments, also depending on how late you get married or you give birth. But it is a total of 6 to 7 months.
John: I was gonna ask you. It seems like, you’re the only mom in the room. Do you think that the maternity leave is long enough?
Xiaohua: I think 6 to 7 months is OK. I would say that the ideal amount maybe a year, because not from any economic policy point of view, but basically it is suggested that mothers breastfeed their babies for a year, that will be the best, and probably the longest necessary amount. And we all know how difficult it is to breastfeed after moms go back to works. So I would say maybe the ideal would be a year. But three years, it’s a little bit too long for me.
John: I think that number one we do have to compare it to other countries, so looking at the bad examples, perhaps looking at how Chinese moms get a little bit better. I mean usual policy in United States is 12 weeks, so about 90 days. I mean China is again the basis is 98, but usually people get more than that. So China is obviously doing a little bit better than the United States. And in Canada as well. But then if we look at the European countries, very strong socialist type of economies and governments, we see that they are actually quite much longer. In Sweden, it is 52 weeks, so that is about a year. In UK, that’s about the same. In Germany, it’s 10 months and French moms have 20 weeks. So we can see that China certainly not the worst, but it’s also not the best.
Heyang: And actually a lot of people have been making the comparison online with China and Germany. And some say that in Germany, they are actually allowed for the first three years, that you can take some time off, maternity leave, both parents can do that.
John: Maternity and paternity.
Heyang: Yes. And you get paid by the government, about maybe 70 percent of your usual salary. And I think that is a great option. But for those countries such as Germany or even Japan, that has a year and a half maternity leave for the mother. These are countries that have very low birth rates, so the government is trying very hard to encourage mothers to give birth, and also make it a lot more comfortable for the family to raise the child, which is a little bit different when you look at the Chinese situation in this. But I still think that it will be a lot better for moms to get a bit more time to recuperate, to be with the little baby. And considering that for China we have entered a stage that we probably need to encourage people to have more babies, then it’s probably time to readjust the policy, so to speak.
Xiaohua: I think it’s very important you mention the birth rate, because I think it’s an important distinction to make, and also the economic levels of these countries are vastly different, after all China is still a developing country. But what I wonder is currently with 98 days to 6 months of maternity leave, still mothers encounter a lot of unequal treatment, for example their job either being taken away or they are being transferred to a less paid situation. I just wonder whether this policy will be well implemented if it’s been put out. You know what I am afraid is if it’s been prolonged to three years, then more companies will ask the uncomfortable question of do you want to have a baby.
John: which is illegal though.
Heyang: Yes. And three years is a little bit too idealistic and just not feasible. So I think it’s probably more useful to talk about, maybe revise it a more practical date such as maybe a year. And even though we have the law in place here but sometimes moms, especially working for private companies, already feel it might be hard to ensure that 98 days. So here I think maybe first of all, making sure what’s going on is implemented accordingly, and second of all, talk about maybe a year of maternity leave.
John: Yeah I think I mean the proposal is well intentioned. In the world that this NPC deputy has in his head, yes, of course, we should all be able to take time off to be with our family more. Men and women should have a longer period of time after child birth to stay at home and take care of these kids. But the reality is that we do not live actually in a very humane world. We live in a world that is motivated by money and how do you keep making money, well, you keep making money by working. And if you are paying someone, but they are not working, then what’s point?
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