Taking leave of their senses?
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Today our series on equality in Europe takes us to Brussels to find out more about the battle over maternity and paternity leave in the EU’s corridors of power. While some MEPs are battling for more parental leave, critics are claiming the costs are just too high.
The European Parliament's Women's Committee recently adopted a report calling for a minimum of two weeks fully paid paternity leave for fathers across Europe.
Paid paternity leave in Europe varies from a possible 480 days in Sweden to 2 days in the Netherlands.
Carl Bergman is from Sweden, but lives in Belgium. He only received two weeks leave after the birth of his daughter. “Kids need a dad and I think it would be healthier for all families, if dads were allowed to take a bigger part in bringing up their children," he told us.
The recent report is spearheading a new EU directive, which also calls for maternity leave to be extended from the current 14 weeks to 20 at full pay and which prohibits the sacking of pregnant women up until six months after giving birth.
But not everyone on the Women’s Committee is championing the new directive. "It had some very good parts to it, about shift work, for example, or breast-feeding, things that need to be addressed, but then it suddenly became a wish-list,” British Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis told Euranet.
She argues that asking small companies to foot the bill for parental leave is counterproductive to improving the current financial climate.
MEPs are scheduled to vote on the directive on 24 March. The decision will then go to individual member states for approval.
For more in our series on gender equality in Europe see:
Women's Day sheds socialist stigma
