To miss. What do you think of Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to replace the current parental leave with a shorter but better paid “birth leave”?
Elsa Foucraut. We can say two things. The good thing is that increased parental leave is finally on the table. This is positive because today the parental leave situation is not satisfactory. But Emmanuel Macron’s announcements remain very vague, they are the same ones made in the autumn by Aurore Bergé, and do not respond to the vigilance points raised since the summer. This is worrying because women’s rights groups have called for the reduction of inequalities between women and men to be clearly included in the objectives of the reform. However, they were not even consulted by the ministries. So much so that, in December, Parents & Feminists, the Collective for Feminist Parenting (P.AF) and the Women’s Foundation wrote to Élisabeth Borne and Aurore Bergé to urge them to consult women’s rights associations and to affirm clearly that equality between women and men is an integral part of the objectives of the reform.
Read also: Which is parental leaveand who can benefit from it?
What are the supervisory points you mention?
They will already be in terms of these leaves. “Better paid and shorter” : what does it mean ? As far as remuneration is concerned, we start from such a low level that we don’t know if what will be offered will be satisfactory. If it is not paid much better and its duration is drastically reduced, it could even represent a step backwards in terms of rights.
The other important point of vigilance in our opinion is the absence of any announcement on leave for the second parent. Now, this is a real topic because parental leave is a kind of extension of maternity leave in most cases and is very different from paternity leave. What we want is to extend the mandatory part of paternity leave. Why do we need to connect the two? Because if we do not extend paternity leave and strengthen parental leave, the latter will continue to be used mainly by women, without any effect on the use of leave by fathers. Encouraging fathers to take leave when a child is born has already been tried and doesn’t work. We need to move on to something more substantive, namely extended parental leave, which will be different from parental leave.
The last point of vigilance concerns the state of the public service for early childhood. Today it is in crisis and, contrary to what the government claims, the situation will not improve in the years to come. On the contrary: despite the decline in the birth rate, the supply of childcare services will also decrease, which will result in fewer children welcomed in collective facilities such as childcare. Today we know that parental leave can be a choice, but that it is sometimes also a palliative for the absence of childcare and that mothers consider it an adaptation variable. The situation, however, risks worsening further in the next three years.
Today, if we want to make a policy favorable to equality between women and men, we must act simultaneously on strengthening parental leave, but also on extending paternity leave and investing in public early childhood services. If we use only one lever, there is a good chance that this will accentuate inequalities.
Read also: “Demographic rearmament”birth leave, Marseillaise at school… Here are the main announcements from Emmanuel Macron
Invited on Sud Radio on Wednesday 17 January, Aurore Bergé clarified that this birth leave will also include maternity and paternity leave…
If maternity leave and maternity leave were included in this six-month birth leave, this would clearly represent a step backwards. But it is very difficult to say without clear information. In June 2023, Aurore Bergé’s predecessor at the Ministry of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, held a comprehensive consultation on the public early childhood service. Feminist associations like us have asked for the issue of parental leave to be put on the table. But the report presented makes no mention of parental or paternity leave. When she arrived this summer, Aurore Bergé began her appointment by saying that she would reform parental leave. Again, in principle, putting the issue on the agenda is a good thing. But after these announcements at the end of July there was no framework document, only a few consultations took place to which feminist parental associations were not invited.
What do you think of the family policy led by Emmanuel Macron?
In 2022, the budget of the family branch of Social Security was cut by 2 billion euros. We started without financing the public childcare service, without thinking about parental leave… The question is also knowing what resources are put on the table.
Emmanuel Macron also spoke of “demographic rearmament” to refer to the decline in the birth rate. What do you think?
This is a worrying and inappropriate formula, which has rightly startled all feminists. It also echoes an imagination very anchored on the far right. After the mobilization against the pension reform, we have witnessed the increase in this martial and bellicose discourse on the birth rate and this worries us. We arrive there at the culmination of this speech as it is taken up at the highest level of the State. Already last September, Aurore Bergé had declared in his parliamentary hearings that increasing the birth rate was one of his priorities. We have repeatedly warned the Government of the rise of pronatalist discourse that fuels these far-right imaginations. We must therefore be very vigilant.
There are issues on which we cannot act “simultaneously” and women’s rights are one of them. Women’s reproductive rights are questioned throughout Europe, it is an issue that needs to be monitored. And it is true that, when on the one hand we have real progress in the constitutionalization of abortion, and on the other a discourse that recreates injunctions with women in mind, this is worrying. Women have the right to have as many children as they want, whenever they want, or not to have children, without there being any state control on this issue.
What are the action levers of the Parents & Féministes association?
A whole part of our actions serves to break the isolation of parents, with discussion groups and cinema screenings where parents can come with their children. We are also a pressure group to challenge public authorities and work for parental leave and the extension of paternity leave.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
