Maternity Leave

There have been a number of articles in the papers recently about whether Australia should set up paid maternity leave. There are a number of issues, some of which have been addressed, but some are still open for discussion.

1. Who pays?

• The proposals put forward are that the Government pays, not the employer. It seems a tad obvious, but if the small businesses had to pay, then work for women in their child-bearing years could become much more difficult to get.
• Monetary-wise we can accept that the gov is the right group to pay, but is there also some cost in time? Training someone to have them disappear soon after may also be unofficially frowned upon. Having them come back part time can also have a hidden cost.
  
• There are organisations who feel that if a person is worth having, then it is worth helping them to manage their time during the early years of the the baby.

2. Why maternity leave from work? What about "non-working" mothers?

• Maternity leave seems to imply that you get money if you were working. What about those women who get pregnant between jobs - why should they be left out?
  
• The options put forward claim that we should be encouraging women to use their skills and training - why imply that women who have "momentarily" left the work force are somehow not worth as much.

3. Isn't this the baby bonus only less?

4. How is the payment calculated?

• If you have a high paying job should you automatically become a highly-paid mother?

I think there are too many problems and prejudices with the set-up for maternity leave. If we want to encourage "baby-having" then why not work out a better baby bonus, or a better set of tax cuts, or something.

Update: Some references:

• Parenting article in Age 26 March.
• Pru Goward's comments - the Age