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Women's rights - or wrongs?
Women's rights - or wrongs?
June 07, 2010
If you’re an employee, you get statutory paid leave when you give birth, but what about the self-employed? Sure, you may be able to claim maternity allowance –social security benefit paid for 39 weeks - but it’s only £124.88 a week (or 90 per cent of your gross average weekly earnings, if less), and you can't claim if you are still working.
Now the EU is proposing that we give self-employed women - and the wives or partners of the male self-employed if they help their man out at work - at least 14 weeks' maternity leave allowance.
This will be paid out of a social insurance scheme, requiring contributions from the self-employed. The EU is leaving it up to each member state to decide whether women have to join a scheme – and pay - or whether to make joining voluntary.
Will this help women? My fear with this proposal – and it’s a point I’ve made before on the LawDonut – is that here we are again, contemplating new laws designed to help women, without really knowing whether they will or not – whether they might even prejudice self-employed women - because no-one is really thinking the idea through or doing the research to find out what the real consequences will be.
We need women and men to have equal rights at work but when it comes to maternity rights, you could argue that the only law we’ve seen working properly to date is the law of unintended consequences.
For example, the anecdotal evidence is that the current rules on maternity leave and pay for women employees seem to be stopping some employers from taking women of child-bearing age on in the first place. Rather than do the research to find out if that’s true, and maybe think of other ways that women can be made equal, the (Labour) government’s reaction was to give women even more of those rights.
And my fear in relation to this new development is that, even if the government has the best of intentions, women will yet again end up suffering in the world of work – maybe having to pay for insurance that will pay out less than many would earn, but stopping them from working to supplement it – so that a measure intended to benefit them ends up doing the opposite.
And what’s with the women-only contributions scheme? Why aren’t men contributing to the payments? Women – who make up more than half the taxpayers in this country – don’t get reductions on their tax bill because they’re less likely to end up with the costly diseases many men get, or in prison and costing the taxpayer £1k a week.
Whose kids are these anyway? Shouldn’t both parents chip in towards something that indirectly contributes to the welfare of their offspring?
It will be at least two years before the UK has to bring the new rules in (though they have up to four years if they “find difficulties" in working out how to do this). The government is bound to consult, so get ready to have your say. My comment is, don’t do it until you’ve done the research that tells you it’ll work as it’s meant to work.
You’ll find much more about the rules on maternity leave and pay in the employment law section of the Law Donut
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Comments
I can see a couple of very large problems with this proposal:
Firstly, "(t)he EU is leaving it up to each member state to decide whether women have to join a scheme - and pay - or whether to make joining voluntary." A voluntary scheme couldn't possibly work - as women would only join up if they thought they'd benefit by drawing out more than they'd contribute over a lifetime. Those who'd expect to contribute more than they'd draw out would simply choose not to join. So where would the shortfall come from?
Secondly, how could the plans possibly be enforced? It's the responsibility of employers to administer maternity pay and ensure that employees on paid leave don't also come into the office. Self-employed individuals, on the other hand, control their own workload.
How would we ensure that self-employed women wouldn't be able to claim this pay while also continuing to work? Who would supervise them?
There needs to be a massive cultural shift in the way that we view our working lives, as it is sadly still weighted towards the traditional assumption that only those who work full-time, without career breaks or putting the family first, are dedicated enough.
The much-anticipated shared parental leave proposed by the last Government would be a big step towards the equality we need in the UK. Although I would imagine that the take-up of this right would be relatively low amongst men (and this is only an assumption), the very fact that men had equal rights to spend time and effort bringing up their child should help to eliminate prejudice that employers may have towards employing young women and to put an end to any resentment felt by men towards their female counterparts.
Perhaps the EU’s proposal to give self-employed women similar rights to female employees should also be extended to self-employed men? As with shared parental leave for employees, it is unlikely there would be a sudden rush of men desperate to become the main carer and put their business on hold, but making it an option would ensure that the legislation isn’t counter-productive for women.
The media constantly bemoans parents who neglect to spend enough time with their children, and the so-called breakdown of society; but how can parents afford to take the time out to focus on their families when there is so much pressure to put all their energy into the business or day job?
Thanks David - while we're on the subject of rights, what about the rights of men and fathers in this proposal?
The EU proposals apparently suggest that in this context that women - and only women - finance the production and care of the nation's children through extra tax. But one of the grimmest social problems in Europe - particularly bad in the UK - is the rise in single-parent families and deadbeat dads.
Pointing out sovereign powers are effectively encouraging lone parenting isn't exactly fresh, but this development is new – and worse. Not just because the UK is skint and can’t afford to shell out more welfare, either.
Never before have men been completely and officially cut out of the parenting system – and never before have women - only - been asked to finance the next generation.
In the battle of the sexes, this looks like a lose, lose for everyone – but particularly for men, who might escape the bill but get disenfranchised as a result. How can the EU justify this?
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