16 weeks of maternity leave. great. up from 12 weeks from the year before. terrific. more time with her child. yeah, fantastic. and paid by the govt. impressive. *roll eyes*
have you considered how 4 months away from work disadvantages a woman in the workplace tremendously? she's virtually replaceable. it makes my blood boil when i hear of women getting fired or unreasonably dismissed just because they're expecting.
your new initiaitves make it easier for us to have more babies? all bullshit, i say. bullshit.
how about this alternative - how abt we equal out the playing field for men and women? have the 4 months shared equally between the father and the mother, and leave it to the parents to decide how they want to split the leave. and make this leave period portable for both. parenting ought to be a shared responsibility, and when employers see that both male and female have the same amount of such maternity/paternity leave, it no longer makes a difference whether his worker's male or female. then the capability on the job would count, rather than the gender. same goes for race and age btw.
but i bet you'd never have the balls to do that, would you? you still think men are more impt than women in the workforce. we're no lesser than you men, you know, you mysoginistic a**holes.
oh, and one more thing - you might want to consider extending these benefits, taxes et all, to the single mothers? i think they need it even more than the couples do.
if you want to see real change in this area, then have policies that really make a difference, send a strong signal that parenting for both men and women is impt. equalise the playing field. stop dangling a little carrot in front of us women, pay us lip service and then expect us to produce more children.
while i am appreciative that my country is trying to help, i am also flabbergasted by the assumptions that lie beneath these hand-outs. i'm guessing they are mostly made by men who fail to understand a woman's struggle in this society. maternity leave is only the tip of the iceberg. so so so much more can be done to promote equalityand get rid of gender discrimination. THAT, will solve you babies and marriage issues.
have some balls for once and make policies that actually work for women.
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3 comments:
*high five* Thanks for standing up! :)
While I can understand your sentiments and you should know that I, of all people, am not one to usually leap to the defense of the government, I offer you the following:
1. The increase in maternity leave was a direct response to repeated feedback from the general public (especially women who had children and were working) that maternity leave was insufficient. So at the very least, give the government credit for at least attempting to respond to the public's wishes, for once.
2. You suggest that giving women 16 weeks maternity leave (as opposed to giving the couple the full period to divvy us as they please) is based on a highly discriminatory perception that men are more important in the workplace. Might I suggest that it is based more on the idea that a woman has a special role in terms of bonding with a newborn that cannot be replicated (even by the father) which is why she is given the maternity leave to spend time with the baby? This same rationale is used as the basis of awarding the mother custody of children in most circumstances in divorce cases. This too is a discriminatory perception (I am not saying it might not be justified) - but in favour of women.
3. Even if one were to accept your plan to allow couples to split the 16 weeks maternity leave, how will employer X (who hires the wife) and employer Y (who hires the husband) be able to coordinate such that the two don't take more than the allotted 16 weeks combined? The husband and wife could then just take 16 weeks each on the pretext that the other person isn't taking any.
4. Then again, if you speak of equality, why not just give the husband 16 weeks as well? Doesn't he need to bond with the baby too? That will equalize the playing field as well with regards to time away from work. But, you might well say, the guy doesn't breast feed the baby, didn't give birth etc. so the mother is the one that needs the time which just brings us back to point (2).
5. I totally agree with your point on unwed mothers. The most ridiculous thing is that technically an unwed mom does not even have custody of her child. If she were to get married later, she would have to formally adopt her child from the state. That is humiliating, insulting and completely unacceptable. However, as much as I disagree with the government policy on unwed mothers, they justify it by saying it is meant to reduce women having babies out of wedlock, and this policy is not something they are likely to revise anytime soon.
6. Speaking of equality again, our penal code is one of the most female friendly in the entire world regarding things like custody and alimony. If I were a house husband and a divorce ensued, I would still, by law be forced to pay alimony and lose custody of the children for the most part, even though I was the primary care-giver. Similarly, in a divorce case say for multiple adultery on the woman's part, the woman still tends to get custody, and the man has to pay alimony, even if that woman runs off and gets married to her new lover almost immediately afterwards. Where is the justice in all of that?
7. While it is true that women face unique pressures at work and might suffer discrimination in the workplace, surely the larger goal would be to combat the discrimination? Furthermore the government policy is far from radical - in every major country in the world, including the Scandinavian ones who have very pro-women policies (including one country having a law stating that one in four people on any corporate board has to be female), women get far more maternity leave than men. Of course, you might argue that every country in the world is run by misogynistic men who don't understand the struggle women face and who are hell bent on maintaing gender inequality (whether consciously or not) but that is the kind of sweeping generalization that can be used by any minority group to assert injustice. It is akin to a Singaporean Malay assigning blame to the government for the relatively lower success rate (in education, wages, employment etc.) but accusing the majority Chinese of misunderstanding and 'subjugating' them.
*haha* I appreciate the comments.
Honestly, I was only responding to one aspect of the NDR, without consideration to other elements at play in society. But while we're on those topics as well, I think the govt can do a lot more to equalise the playing field and to reduce discrimination. And I definitely think the penal code should be relooked, to make it more fair to both genders.
I don't think bonding happens only for the mother. Yes, while the mother will need time to recover from the surgery etc, I think more ought to be done for paternity leave as well. I'd be overjoyed if men get 16 weeks as well! of course by then, I think half our workforce can also shut down liao....*haha*
I've also worked with bosses to hire people before. and you cannot believe how often, it DOES come down to who would likely be pregnant soon hence away more often. I've also seen how boses scowl when a woman needs to leave punctually to pick up her child from childcare, or take childcare leave to take care of her sick child. Less so with my male colleagues, and of course, doesn't happen with singles either.
btw, i think such leave, and medical benefits, ought to be made portable. its an idea that's been explored and talked about, but too difficult to implement and needs radical political muscle to make happen.
knowing the way policies are made firsthand, many policy-makers are reluctant to shake up existing systems even though it is obvious we need to change things radically. just too much trouble, and oftentimes, not enough buy-in from the top.
also having done public consultation, it often isn't very effective to gather a grp of pple round and ask them what they want. they'll just tell you what they need in the short run to fulfill an immediate need rather than talk abt long term social change that's needed.
hence, the extra week is a stop gap measure. what is really required is an overall mindset change needs to happen with regard to parenting and having children, which while it will take time, starts with what the govt signals through its policies.
i honestly think our society isn't open enough to allow for true gender equality yet.
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