Equal, Non-transferable and Fully Paid Parental Leave

PLENT seeks the equalization of parental leaves for mothers and fathers......

...by means of legal reforms in each country that will establish the right of any parent to ....

THE PRESENT PARENTAL LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS CHILDREN

• The newborn cannot be cared for to the same extent by the father; in this way the child learns gender roles from the cot
• Less bonding with the father or the other parent, depriving children from extended psychological anchoring
• The mother being the one who cares the greatest part of the time may damage her professional career and therefore her salary and social benefits, resulting in higher rates of child poverty, particularly among mono parental families

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS WOMEN AND MOTHERS

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS MEN AND FAHERS

• The mother is overloaded because of the upbringing tasks not being equally shared
• Reinforces the sexist cliché of women being the ones able to take care of the children
• Produces the so called "statistical discrimination" by which all women of childbearing age are seen as "less available" to the eyes of employers, even though they are not or won't become mothers
• To prevent their children being cared by others, women are compelled to extend their paid maternity leave with unpaid leaves, part time work or attrition, which harms their professional opportunities
• Periods out of the labor market without contributions to the social security reduce the amount of social benefits that women are entitled to (unemployment, retirement, etc.)
• Less income and less social benefits increase women poverty

• Prevents fathers from enjoying the newborn for a significant time
• Reduces the early bonding with the baby, promoting the harmful absent-and-distant paternity model
• Consolidates the limiting traditional male role that assumes women are the ones with the skills and the responsibility for caring
• Reinforces the cliché of men not being able to care
• Prevents the acquisition of useful organizational and house holding skills
• Contributes to an insane psychological relationship of dependency with the man's professional job

Individual, same parental leave for each parent

• Entitlement of fathers to same leave as mothers

• Same duration

• Same wage replacement

Non-transferable

• Individual right based on everyone's contributions to social security
• On an use-it-or-lose-it basis, cannot be transfered to the other parent
• Similarly to other social benefits, it should not be exchangeable for money

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS FAMILIES

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS BUSINESSES

• "Reconciliation" of professional and family life is only achieved by the mother's almost full time dedication to caring the baby, which results in a reduction or loss of her employment
• Reduction or loss of the mother's employment result in a decrease of the family income and an increase of poverty rates
• In many cases, grandmas/pas or other relatives have to be involved in the baby's caring, sometimes overloading them

Equal,

Non-tranferable

and Fully Paid

total parental leave

• Unpaid leaves and attrition result in a brain drain and a loss of investment made in training and professional development of the female staff
• If professional and family life reconciliation is not favored by the company, loyalty and retention rates decrease dramatically
• Higher replacement costs come from higher staff rotation and a shortage of professionals with such experience and maturity
• Maternity impacting women's professional career means that few women reach to managerial positions; evidence shows that corporations with few women in managerial positions are less profitable

Fully paid

• Full wage replacement
• Paid by the social security, as any other social benefit

(for each parent in case of birth or adoption of a child)

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS THE ECONOMY

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS THE STATE

• Women pushed out of the labor market results in a highly inefficient use of the available production factors
• Squandering of valuable feminine human resources
• Men caring capital is wasted

• Less affiliations and contributions to the Social Security, and less tax revenue because women reduce their paid work
• More non-contributory benefits
• Less sustainability of the Social Security

WHY?

• Because the present parental leave system reinforces the sexual division of work (the idea and the practice of women being the ones in charge of caring), therefore fostering inequalities and preventing women's progress

• Because transferable and/or badly paid leaves are not taken by fathers (as the available evidence shows) and, from the very beginning, mothers have to assume almost all caring tasks for the newborn

• Because public policies and laws are not neutral towards gender justice

• Because our societies (women and many men) are changing faster than the laws

THE PRESENT LEAVE SYSTEM HARMS THE SOCIETY

• Reduced birth and fertility rates which result in demographic unbalance
• Fosters gender inequality
• Welfare of children and families is negatively impacted
• No account is taken of the consolidated change in women (and many men) aspirations