Viewpoint.
To effectively protect women's reproductive and labor rights and interests, and to stabilize the female labor force participation rate while promoting the long-term balanced development of the population, it is necessary to explore the establishment of a maternity security system that is compatible with the current characteristics of female employment.
Effectively boosting the fertility level and promoting the long-term balanced development of China's population are important tasks for the current economic and social development. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to optimize the population development strategy, establish a fertility support policy system, and reduce the cost of childbirth, parenting and education. The 14th Five-Year Plan for Employment Promotion proposes to provide public services for re-employment training for women whose employment has been interrupted due to childbirthMake childbirth-friendly an important aspect of employers' social responsibilities, encourage employers to formulate measures that are conducive to balancing work and family relationships between employees, and negotiate and determine flexible leave and flexible working methods that are conducive to taking care of infants and young children in accordance with the law.
In recent years, the size of China's working-age population has declined. How to effectively protect women's reproductive and labor rights and interests, stabilize the female labor force participation rate while promoting the long-term balanced development of the population, establish a long-term mechanism to effectively alleviate women's work-family conflicts, and build a childbirth-friendly institutional environment have become urgent problems to be solved.
Although various localities have successively introduced policies related to childbirth support and employment protection, the coverage is still relatively narrow, and a complete security system has not been formed. At present, the main manifestations of women's employment problems are: First, women's discrimination in recruitment, training, promotion and other employment links still exists, and career interruptions caused by childbirth will affect training opportunities and promotion opportunities;Second, due to the lack of public childcare institutions, the high cost of infant and child care, and the superposition of the dual pressure of work and family, the cost of childbirth and childcare is high, and many working women have interrupted employment or withdrawn from the labor marketThird, the policy standards of women's maternity leave are different, the implementation effect is still not ideal, there is a lack of supervision mechanism, and the effect of the rights and interests protection mechanism needs to be strengthenedFourth, the coverage of maternity insurance needs to be improved, and at the same time, there is a lack of sufficient attention to men's reproductive and parenting responsibilitiesFifth, the female employment protection policy has increased the employment cost of employers, and positive incentive measures need to be supplemented.
Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen women's employment security and build a childbirth-friendly institutional environment. Its necessity is reflected in the following aspects.
First, it is an inevitable requirement for promoting the long-term balanced development of China's population. The population issue has always been a basic, overall, and strategic issue. In recent years, China's fertility rate has been relatively low. International experience shows that low fertility rates in some countries can be moderately low if factors that reduce fertility are addressed, such as promoting gender equality, protecting women's employment rights, and improving reproductive health services. The level of human development, including the level of education, life expectancy, and the protection of related rights and interests, is not only a factor in the decline of fertility in a certain period of time, but also a condition for fertility at a higher level. If a high level of human development is achieved while ensuring gender equality, women's willingness to have children can be increased. Therefore, to promote the long-term balanced development of China's population, it is necessary to increase the protection of women's rights and interests and help women deal with the balance between work and family.
Second, it is an important focus to increase the supply of effective labor. In order to effectively increase the supply of labor, stabilizing the labor participation rate of women has become an important means on the supply side, and in recent years, the education level of women in China has increased significantly, and the level of human capital accumulation is high. At the same time, the right to employment is a basic right enjoyed by women equally, and the policy orientation of childbirth support should not be at the expense of women's employment rights, but should provide reproductive support for working women while protecting women's labor and employment rights.
Third, it is a practical need to improve the supporting measures of childbirth support policies. At the present stage, the factors affecting China's fertility rate have changed, and socio-economic, cultural, and other factors have become the decisive factors. In recent years, the cost of housing, the economic cost of raising a family, educational anxiety, and the work-family conflict faced by women have become the main factors affecting the fertility rate. Therefore, to improve fertility rate and fertility intention, we should not only pay attention to the fertility policy itself, but also do a good job in the supporting convergence of economic and social related policies, increase the ability of families to resist risks, and at the same time integrate the concept of supporting fertility in various fields of social development, and promote the convergence of fertility policies and related economic and social policies.
In order to effectively protect women's reproductive and labor rights and interests, and stabilize the female labor force participation rate while promoting the long-term balanced development of the population, it is necessary to explore the establishment of a maternity security system that is compatible with the current characteristics of female employment.
First, efforts should be made to eliminate gender discrimination in employment. In the implementation of the employment priority strategy, emphasis is placed on promoting equal employment between men and women, improving the employment support system, strengthening public service policy guarantees for providing re-employment training for women whose employment has been interrupted due to childbirth, and supporting women to return to work or re-enter the workforce after giving birth. Through legislative or administrative guidance, further clarify the criteria for determining "gender discrimination in employment", specify the gender discrimination issues that may be faced in the entire process of "recruitment, hiring, and employment" of women's employment, and strengthen anti-employment discrimination publicity.
Second, we will improve the supply of inclusive childcare services, focus on solving the problem of family parenting, and help women balance work and life. Continue to carry out special actions for inclusive childcare, increase the scale of investment in the budget and local financial subsidies, include childcare services in the public financial budget, build and improve a sustainable financial investment guarantee system, include childcare services in basic public services as soon as possible, and ensure the provision of services and the fair sharing of inclusive and policy resources. Actively explore and gradually form a policy support system for maternity leave, parental leave, childcare subsidies, tax exemptions and exemptions that are interconnected with and matched with childcare public services.
Third, establish a more unified and perfect maternity leave system. At the national level, the standard of maternity leave should be unified, and the maternity incentive leave should be incorporated into the maternity leave, and the leave setting should follow the principle of low standards and wide coverage, so as to form inclusive maternity leave, and the maternity insurance will pay the maternity leave allowance. At the same time, the structure of maternity leave should be optimized, and various types such as maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave, breastfeeding leave, and family care leave should be set up, so as to clearly define the functions of each type of leave and form a more complete maternity leave system. Establish leave quotas for fathers and balance leave and allowances for both men and women in the setting of parental leave and maternity care leave, so that parents can share parenting responsibilities.
Fourth, speed up the establishment of a system for protecting women's reproductive rights and interests and employment protection. On the basis of the maternity insurance system, we will further improve the maternity security policy, and establish the core concept of encouraging employment at the level of system design. Expand the coverage of maternity insurance, and establish a social assistance mechanism for women who have given birth to women who are economically impoverished, so as to form a basic protection. Explore a reasonable sharing mechanism for childbirth costs, and implement a tripartite sharing model between enterprises and individuals. At the same time, tax reduction, financial subsidies and other measures should be used to compensate for the direct and indirect costs of enterprises in childbirth expenditures, and improve the enthusiasm of small and micro enterprises to participate in insurance. Through the protection of women's reproductive rights and interests, we will promote the improvement of working women's fertility intentions, and at the same time achieve multiple policy goals such as stabilizing women's employment and career development expectations, reducing the burden on enterprises, promoting women's economic participation, and improving labor supply, so as to achieve a "win-win" situation for women, enterprises and female employees.
Author's Affiliation: China Institute of Labor Relations).