Parental leave: how much is enough?

The issue of extended parental leave continues along a slippery path as more join the fray in voicing their conflicting opinions on the proposed changes to the European legislative framework.

It all came to a head earlier in the year when the Portuguese Socialist MEP Edite Estrela presented a draft report regarding directives re-setting minimum limits of paid parental leave. The European Parliament is proposing the extension of parental leave up to 20 weeks along with other unpaid arrangements. The current individual right to parental leave is set at a minimum of three months for male and female workers on the birth or adoption of a child according to Directive 96/34/EC. Malta currently allows 14 weeks of paid parental leave.

Way back in February at approximately the same time, the European Commission warned Malta about its delay in amending its law on parental leave. The Commission did not mince words. As the European Parliament was about to vote on extending parental leave rights it seemed apparent that our present legislation had still far too many loopholes that allow certain businesses to postpone if not refuse outright the granting of proper parental leave to their employees. Furthermore, the Commission had called on Malta to enact these changes within a stipulated time frame. Predictably the Malta Employers’ Association was quick to respond. Describing these changes as untenable, it cited management problems, sustainability and insisted on flexibility. The situation as far as I know remains a stalemate.

The plot continued to thicken a few weeks ago. Parental leave extension legislation is now increasingly likely if the member states come to some form of agreement. Concurrently a study carried out by the Malta Business Bureau (MBB) stated that with regard to Malta any changes to the parental leave directive would burden the country and its businesses in excess of €12 million annually. The Malta Chamber of Commerce along with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association were quick to flag this report.

An article penned by the respective presidents of the latter organisations on this newspaper on June 16, entitled Cost Of Maternity, Paternity Leave left very little to the imagination. They described the legislative proposals as “controversial”, “disproportionate” and “counterproductive”. They even went so far as to suggest that any such changes would significantly reduce women’s chances in the labour market hinting “at a widening of the wage discrepancy between female and male workers”. Actual evidence from other countries of course proves otherwise. At any rate, I wonder if this was not classic gender discrimination at its worst!

Then a few days ago a further study by Labour MEP Edward Scicluna continued to heighten the controversy. Prof. Scicluna came up with a completely different set of figures as to the costs of extending maternity leave by six weeks and paternity leave by two weeks. He questions the findings of the MBB study. While dismissing the €12 million cost (indicating a €5 million tag) he believes that the extension would lead to an increase of nine per cent in female participation and an increase of €50 million in economic activity. Clearly the debate has now been reduced to pure figures, statistics and economic mumbo jumbo!

At this point I almost understand the government’s especially cautious view on the matter. On the one hand these EU amendments promote and strengthen the rights of the family and women in particular. They strengthen the bond between parents and child. On the other hand the Administration is faced with two kinds of resistance. Clearly there is financial resistance as the costs and benefits of these extended parental rights are costed with millimetrical precision.

The second form of resistance is ideological. In an interview on the proposed extension of parental leave, Ms Estrela underlines this ideological resistance citing not only the North/South divide (northern countries have much more generous parental leave arrangements). Countries in the south of Europe still by and large believe that the woman’s place is in the home. Furthermore a man who avails himself of parental leave is “considered a bad parent”.

As such our own structure is on average comparable to quite a large number of countries. The public sector employees are evidently the best protected among employees enjoying the opportunity of flexi-time and parental sabbaticals. These opportunities are a mere chimera for most if not all employees in the private sector. The reasons are evident and obvious. Most of our businesses are best described as micro. Secondly our “medium to large” enterprises have a long way to go to establish entrenched systems that safeguard parenting and especially women who are rearing small children. Despite marked improvements, the state has still a long way to go to fulfil all its obligations if it wishes to emancipate and increase women in the workplace. Often financial constraints are cited as the main reason. Yet what is the price of healthy and strong families where women can have children at an earlier age unconstrained by the vagaries of the market place?

Achieving an equitable work time and work life balance has never been easy for mothers with young children and here I speak from experience. While acknowledging the sentiment coming from specialists in the economy sector, to me it beggars belief how this issue can still be up for discussion.

Strengthening the family can only be done if parents are given adequate time to prepare for that crucial time when the mother returns to the workplace. Clearly the issue must be resolved among the interested parties once and for all. Anything less would prove inconclusive.

It is at this juncture that the family has to grasp at a practical working schedule that will accommodate the needs of both parents while allowing sufficient time and space for the children to grow up in a loving and healthy environment.

For all the cynics out there, yes this is possible! The answer is not to refuse extended parental leave or worse take the high stand on the role of the female as a “stay at home mother” but rather to introduce more options and choices which make the return to the workplace an easier transition for every parent.

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