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AWARE's suggestions for policy changes
In an article dated 9th February 2011, the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) calls for policy changes to existing parental leave that promote gender equality through equal distribution of parenting responsibilities.
AWARE draws links between Singapore’s declining birth rate and women bearing the bulk of childcare responsibilities.
To combat this, AWARE proposes five key policy changes:
1) Mandatory for fathers to receive two weeks of paid paternity leave.
2) 4th month of maternity leave should be made into “parental leave” which can be taken up by both the father or mother.
3) A S$4000 bonus be given to families where the father opts for the 4th month of “parental leave”.
4) Currently parents of children under seven years of age are entitled to 6 days of paid childcare leave. This should be made into “dependent leave”, and extended to include older children as well as elderly parents.
5) Parenting leave benefits enjoyed by married parents should be extended to unmarried parents.
The main focus of AWARE’s suggestions revolve around equalizing parental leave for greater sharing of the family responsibilities. According to AWARE, the declining birth rate stems from inherent gender inequality, which often relegate women to the less-valued domain of the household.
Traditional patriarchal beliefs prevail, in which child-rearing is still largely seen as the responsibility of the mother. Should the need arise, the woman should forgo her education or career for the family. Men are seen as head of the household and hence it is virtually unheard of for women to be the main or sole breadwinners while the husband stays home.
However with greater gender equality and the acceptance of women into education, women are increasingly educated and desiring to carve out a career of their own. Yet society still expects them to give up these for the sake of the family. As such, women are delaying forming a family - resulting in later and fewer marriages, as well as the possible inability to have children due to age or them opting for fewer children.
Women also fear stigmatization at the workplace. The dominant perspective that women should be the ones to sacrifice their career can lead to employers limiting their advancement prospects out of fear that the company would be wasting valuable time and resources on her. This leads to the phenomenon of the “glass ceiling”, where the advancement of women in the workplace is unfairly stoppered despite sufficient qualifications.
By suggesting fathers be given mandatory paternal leave helps to emphasize and normalize the idea that paternal childcare is just as important as that of the mother’s. Further aiming for maternity leave to be made into “parental leave” is a good way to provide an option of more equal childcare duties. This may help propel acceptance of the family as an equally shared responsibility, instead of primarily being that of the mother’s.
Just giving families this option however, does not mean it will actually occur. This is still due to the archaic notion that men should work while women should stay home. As such even if given the choice, most women would most likely take on maternity leave as this is the societal norm. To combat this would be AWARE’s suggestion of providing a S$4000 bonus to fathers who take up the offer. This is especially pertinent for low-income families for whom the money may come in useful and hence may allow fathers to take on more active and socially accepted roles in the development of their children.
With today’s ageing society, more families also have to care for elderly parents. Once again this role is often relegated to the mother, similarly so for children. Thus if parental leave can be used by both the mother and father, extending childcare leave to both older children and elderly might help to again shift family responsibility from the mother to a shared one.
Overall however, it is hard to predict whether they will make any real change to gender inequality. Even before women enter the workplace she may already be discriminated via preferential employment of males over her due to assumptions that she will eventually need maternity and childcare leave or may leave the workforce altogether. With more equal parental leave it might help the pros and cons of hiring men over women, or vice versa, less stark.
AWARE draws links between Singapore’s declining birth rate and women bearing the bulk of childcare responsibilities.
To combat this, AWARE proposes five key policy changes:
1) Mandatory for fathers to receive two weeks of paid paternity leave.
2) 4th month of maternity leave should be made into “parental leave” which can be taken up by both the father or mother.
3) A S$4000 bonus be given to families where the father opts for the 4th month of “parental leave”.
4) Currently parents of children under seven years of age are entitled to 6 days of paid childcare leave. This should be made into “dependent leave”, and extended to include older children as well as elderly parents.
5) Parenting leave benefits enjoyed by married parents should be extended to unmarried parents.
The main focus of AWARE’s suggestions revolve around equalizing parental leave for greater sharing of the family responsibilities. According to AWARE, the declining birth rate stems from inherent gender inequality, which often relegate women to the less-valued domain of the household.
Traditional patriarchal beliefs prevail, in which child-rearing is still largely seen as the responsibility of the mother. Should the need arise, the woman should forgo her education or career for the family. Men are seen as head of the household and hence it is virtually unheard of for women to be the main or sole breadwinners while the husband stays home.
However with greater gender equality and the acceptance of women into education, women are increasingly educated and desiring to carve out a career of their own. Yet society still expects them to give up these for the sake of the family. As such, women are delaying forming a family - resulting in later and fewer marriages, as well as the possible inability to have children due to age or them opting for fewer children.
Women also fear stigmatization at the workplace. The dominant perspective that women should be the ones to sacrifice their career can lead to employers limiting their advancement prospects out of fear that the company would be wasting valuable time and resources on her. This leads to the phenomenon of the “glass ceiling”, where the advancement of women in the workplace is unfairly stoppered despite sufficient qualifications.
By suggesting fathers be given mandatory paternal leave helps to emphasize and normalize the idea that paternal childcare is just as important as that of the mother’s. Further aiming for maternity leave to be made into “parental leave” is a good way to provide an option of more equal childcare duties. This may help propel acceptance of the family as an equally shared responsibility, instead of primarily being that of the mother’s.
Just giving families this option however, does not mean it will actually occur. This is still due to the archaic notion that men should work while women should stay home. As such even if given the choice, most women would most likely take on maternity leave as this is the societal norm. To combat this would be AWARE’s suggestion of providing a S$4000 bonus to fathers who take up the offer. This is especially pertinent for low-income families for whom the money may come in useful and hence may allow fathers to take on more active and socially accepted roles in the development of their children.
With today’s ageing society, more families also have to care for elderly parents. Once again this role is often relegated to the mother, similarly so for children. Thus if parental leave can be used by both the mother and father, extending childcare leave to both older children and elderly might help to again shift family responsibility from the mother to a shared one.
Overall however, it is hard to predict whether they will make any real change to gender inequality. Even before women enter the workplace she may already be discriminated via preferential employment of males over her due to assumptions that she will eventually need maternity and childcare leave or may leave the workforce altogether. With more equal parental leave it might help the pros and cons of hiring men over women, or vice versa, less stark.
Source:
Paternity leave should be made mandatory Related Link: Paternal Leave: A Response
russian_red |
Latest page update: made by russian_red
, Apr 14 2011, 10:05 AM EDT
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Keyword tags:
AWARE
childcare
family responsibility
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| 86cs | Formation of new cultural script? | 1 | Apr 14 2011, 10:04 AM EDT by russian_red | ||
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Thread started: Apr 13 2011, 4:04 PM EDT
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Your article coincides with Popenoe's worry regarding the erosion of the traditional nuclear family. This also represents the dismantling of classical patriarchy as women start making appearances within the public sphere. I am quite curious to know what is your take on the implications of AWARE's policies? Do you think it provides males and females with a new cultural script to follow?- I don't.
I agree with your premise that it is hard to predict whether there will be any real change to gender inequality. In fact, I think it is more probable that gender inequality will remain entrenched. I believe that it was mentioned in briefly in our lecture that men could just sit around during their given paternal leave and not really help out. The policies do not really change to gendered notion of parenting. I believe that something people need to be enculturated with new values that de-gender the arena of parenting as a general female practice. I believe that the best way to ensure men taking up parenting roles is the modification of fundamental state ideologies such as Confucianism and sanctioned patriarchy. It is the intangible mindset of people that prevents egalitarian practices. I would suggest education and campaigning for fathering as a starting point that can gradually shift popular conceptions of masculinity. In other words, mold the mindsets of people before throwing in tangible rewards which to not change to nature of the practice itself. I believe that taking a culturalist approach in policy making such as this has a better chance of revising the cultural script for performed roles in marriage.
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Keyword tags:
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