Parental leave, how to not just "look beautiful"
At the beginning of this year, 32-year-old Zhang Xin (a pseudonym) welcomed her second baby.
Regarding whether to consider having three children, she said with some distress: "How to bring the children is now the most important thing we need to consider. The parents on both sides are taking turns to arrange shifts. It is really impossible. I have to consider resigning."
Nowadays, "no one takes care of children" has become a major reason why some young people dare not have children and are unwilling to have children.
"We all like children, but we have to consider the actual situation. If the country has policies to reduce the burden of raising children, we are still willing to respond to the call of the country." Zhang Xin said.
On August 20, the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted and passed a decision on amending the Population and Family Planning Law. The addition of a clause is eye-catching: the state supports the establishment of parental leave in places where conditions permit.
On August 25, the executive meeting of the State Council deliberated and approved the "Outline for the Development of Chinese Women (2021-2030)" and the "Outline for the Development of Children in China (2021-2030)", and proposed to explore the implementation of parental leave.
What is parental leave?
Can this policy promote the implementation of the "three-child policy"?
How to let "ideal shine into reality" and promote the effective implementation of parental leave for parents?
A few days ago, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily interviewed some young parents and invited many experts and scholars to interpret them.
Parental leave can avoid "widowed childcare"
"I don't know too much", "I haven't heard of it", "It's quite new"... Recently, the reporter learned about the topic of parental parental leave. Few people know about parental parental leave, and many young people think about it. Basically stay at the stage of maternity leave and paternity leave.
Many young parents say they don’t know exactly what parental leave is and how they can take it, but they look forward to it very much.
In fact, parental leave does not come with the three-child policy.
On May 9, 2019, the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Care Services for Infants and Children under 3 Years of Age" issued by the General Office of the State Council first proposed that local governments are encouraged to explore the trial of parental leave and maternity leave that are linked to infant care services.
This "new type of holiday" has entered the public eye.
The China Youth Daily’s "2021 National Two Sessions Youth Expectations" survey showed that 60.5% of the respondents hope to implement parental leave, and 60.2% of the respondents hope to allow women during pregnancy and breastfeeding to work flexibly. This proportion even exceeds that for pregnant women. Mothers provide other policy support such as childbirth and childbirth subsidies.
"Parental leave is not the same as maternity leave and paternity leave." Huang Qi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and part-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Women’s Federation, explained that parental leave is given to both spouses for a certain number of days each year after the birth of the child for care and companionship. The growth of a child is a family holiday in addition to maternity leave and paternity leave. "Parental parental leave is conducive to enhancing the willingness of couples of childbearing age."
"Parental parental leave is out of the need to protect the interests of children." According to Jiang Yue, a professor at Xiamen University Law School, parents are indispensable for the growth of children. Parenting".
Mr. Zhang, the father of the second child, feels deeply about the "widowed parenting": "Now the burden of caring for children rests on the mothers and the elderly. With parental parental leave, the father's parental responsibilities can be taken over by the children and the family. benefit."
Jiang Yue said that parental leave is one of the ways for society to share the cost of childcare.
"Relieving the conflict between individual fertility and career development is conducive to promoting gender equality."
Don’t let parents “look beautiful” on parental leave
After 35-year-old Gao Kun (a pseudonym) had a son, in response to national policy, the couple planned to "fight a second child", but they did not expect to have a triplet daughter.
Now that the four children are surrounded by him, Gao Kun feels deeply happy and stressed.
On weekdays, Gao Kun and his wife have to go to work, and the children are looked after by their parents and nanny.
"With the arrival of the three daughters, the elderly in the family have lost their'freedom', happy and tired." Gao Kun hopes to implement parental leave for parents so that the family can breathe a sigh of relief.
"Before a child becomes an adult, parents should often bring out long-term knowledge. For office parents, a relatively stable vacation is particularly needed." Gao Kun's ideal parental leave, "not only before the child is 3 years old, at least the child Before elementary school, parents need more company."
How to prevent parents from taking parental leave just "looks beautiful"?
Experts believe that policy coordination is needed.
Deng Li, a scholar at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized that in formulating parental leave rules, gender balance should be taken into consideration.
"Parental leave is a leave enjoyed by both parents. In this regard, the same mechanism should be applied to the recruitment of male employees and female employees, otherwise it may be suspected of gender discrimination and motherhood discrimination."
Huang Qi believes that in the traditional concept, women are more experienced and more careful in parenting, which leads to women's disadvantage in the workplace.
The responsibility of parenting needs to be shared by both parents. "Men taking parental leave can relatively reduce discrimination against women in the workplace and help protect the labor rights of female employees."
Some experts pointed out that from international experience, the introduction of a flexible parental leave policy can ensure that parents are fair and share responsibilities, and help increase the fertility rate.
So, how long is the parental leave for parents, one-time or phased?
With reference to the relevant regulations that have been promulgated in various places, parental leave mostly stays during the child's 0 to 3 years old period, and each spouse is granted 10 days of joint parental leave each year.
"This is obviously not enough." Huang Qi said that 0 to 3 years old is the period of establishment and cultivation of children's sense of security, and parental leave should be appropriately increased.
As the child grows, it is more appropriate to reduce the parental leave appropriately.
Huang Qi suggested that in the implementation stage, parents should be given a certain amount of freedom to use parental leave.
For example, parents can choose to take a one-time full vacation, split vacations, or vacations at a certain time of the day. In addition, the spouses can freely choose to take vacations at the wrong time or make time for joint vacations.
Take the "balance beam" of the interests of all parties in society
Xiaoding, a young man born in 1995, said bluntly: "Parents' parental leave will not be so easy to land, because now companies are generally short of manpower."
As Xiaoding worries, the introduction of parental leave is a good thing, but from the perspective of practical operation and feasibility, if you want to truly implement parental leave, you face a very realistic problem: the cost of parental leave, Who should pay the bill?
"For families, only when all family members can bear the burden of childbirth, will they support the family decision of'deciding birth'; otherwise, some people will vote against or abstain from voting." Jiang Yue said, childcare cost sharing The main body of the childbearer includes both the childbearer, the unit where the childbearer belongs, and the country.
"The state should take supporting measures in terms of finance, taxation, insurance, education, housing, employment, and children's services to reduce the burden of family birth, nurturing, and education."
Deng Li pointed out that when it comes to short-term economic gains, it sometimes requires flexibility and coordination between employees and the company, and sometimes requires comprehensive consideration of social welfare and fiscal expenditures, and comprehensive use of negotiation, tax exemption, subsidies, and other methods to minimize corporate losses.
"Although the implementation of parental leave may bring about short-term cost losses, in the long run, it is definitely beneficial to society and the future." Deng Li said.
"The maternity insurance system should be improved as soon as possible, and parental leave should be included." Huang Qi said that local medical insurance departments should pay maternity medical expenses and maternity allowances in full and in accordance with regulations, and effectively protect the insured's maternity protection rights and do a good job. The protection of the rights and interests of parents during the parental leave encourages companies to give employees a certain amount of leave freedom.
Huang Qi pointed out that the question of how long and how to take parental leave is an issue that needs to be considered from the national policy level.
After the population and family planning law is revised, it is necessary to do a good job of linking up various policies as soon as possible, revise local laws and regulations, take the "balance beam" of the interests of all parties in the society, and ensure that the revised population and family planning law is in place.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily, trainee reporter Han Shao, reporter Xian Oujie Source: China Youth Daily