‘Make maternity leave more flexible’

By: Together Abroad 18-03-2013 9:00 AM
Categories: * Daily employment news,

Women should be able to take their maternity leave in sections and spread the 10 full weeks over a maximum period of 30 weeks.
Pia Dijkstra and Steven van Weyenberg, members of parliament for D66, will put forward a proposal on Friday, International Women’s Day, in order to realize this plan. Coalition parties VVD and PvdA say they have sympathetic views regarding the plans but will await the exact details and form an opinion, keeping the cabinet’s proposals in mind. The bill is expected to be under discussion after the summer. Dijkstra sees many advantages in the amendment. It would make it possible to take maternity leave in portions for the first time ever. “It is no mean feat to start back at work fulltime after not having worked for weeks on end”, says Pia Dijkstra.

Emancipation
“A lot of women would rather start up again sooner and more gradual, this would also make it easier to learn how to cope with combining career and family. Our bill would make this possible”. According to Dijkstra, making maternity leave more flexible is important for the emancipation of women, both in their careers and at home. “We would prefer to see women, even when they have children, work at least four days a week. Working a fulltime job makes it easier to make a career, build up a pension and sustain financial independence.”

Employers
According to the proposal, employers would in principal have to agree to employees suggesting a more flexible maternity leave period, all within the boundaries and possibilities of the terms of employment. In Dijkstra’s view, employers will not have any major objections. “In my opinion, employers will actually benefit from an experienced employee returning to work sooner, albeit part-time. Moreover, it is as much beneficial to the employee as the employer to experience the least amount of stress in getting used to the combination of work and taking care of a child”.

Pressure
Ockje Tellegen form the VVD underlines that the terms of employment should remain the first matter of importance. Women’s free choice, however, should also be guaranteed. “Flexibility should not lead to feeling pressurized into starting work again too soon”. D66 states that, in time, there should also be more room created for men around maternity leave. In the future, they would like to have research performed in order to find out what the possibilities would be.
Source: NU.nl
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