2023-07-26 20:23:17
Today, parental leave is taken full-time by only 1% of fathers and 14% of mothers. GRAPHICOBSESSION
The new Minister of Solidarity and Families, Aurore Bergé, indicated, Tuesday July 25, in an interview granted to the regional daily West France, that she was considering reducing the duration of parental leave and better compensating her. While the associations are delighted that the issue has been put on the political agenda, they remain cautious about its possible implementation.
Parental leave – different from maternity leave, set at sixteen weeks, and paternity leave, at twenty-eight days – is a leave renewable twice and compensates on a flat-rate basis of 425 euros per month in the event of complete cessation of activity . According to the Minister, this leave is both used too little, because it is insufficiently compensated, and too often taken reluctantly by mothers, for lack of a childcare solution. According to a study by the French Observatory of Economic Conditions published in 2021, parental leave is taken full-time by only 1% of fathers and 14% of mothers. A situation that Ms. Bergé judged “doubly unsatisfactory”.
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Barely made public, this announcement made some left-wing politicians jump. “I do not provide an immediate answer, but we must open this debate collectively, with parents, all those who work with young children and family associations”, recalled the minister to Agence France-Presse, on the evening of July 25. As for the associations, we are pleased that this question has finally been addressed. For Marie-Andrée Blanc, president of the National Union of Family Associations (UNAF), this announcement is “a good signal” since the compensation is “a key point” to make this leave more attractive. For the manager, this reform must be carried out with a real early childhood policy.
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“Combating Gender Inequalities”
A request also relayed by the Terra Nova association: “Any reform of parental leave that would not be preceded or at least accompanied by a vigorous policy of creating collective reception places (nurseries in particular) would be doomed to failure and counterproductive”, warns Kenza Tahri, head of the gender equality division of the think-tank. With this in mind, the former president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly made a point of recalling the government’s commitment to create 200,000 additional crèche places by 2030 and to initiate the salary increase for jobs in the small childhood.
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