On March 4, the committee put forward a proposal to extend paid "parental leave" for women to reduce the cost of childcare, increase the willingness to have children, and reduce gender discrimination against women in the job market. This suggestion immediately aroused widespread attention and discussion among netizens.
It seems to be for the benefit of women, but do women really get "benefits"?
Does extending paid maternity leave for women really increase women's fertility intentions? Does it alleviate gender discrimination against women in the job market? This is not the case, but it can exacerbate women's employment discrimination.
Women's childbirth is a normal and great thing, but it has become a "burden" that they can't get rid of on the road to job hunting. In real life, many women face a number of difficulties during pregnancy and childcare, including employment discrimination. Although the extension of maternity leave is to ensure that women have enough time to rest and care for their children during childbirth, it also places an additional burden on businesses. Companies need to consider employment costs when hiring employees, including the need to pay additional benefits and subsidies during employee leave. If the duration of maternity leave is too long, companies may choose not to consider hiring women to avoid increased labor costs. At the same time, some companies also believe that long maternity leave will gradually disconnect women from society, decline or even stagnate their work status, and limit women's career development.
Gender inequality in the workplace is not uncommon, and some companies use the slogan of "equality between men and women" on the surface, but in fact use more subtle methods such as job trials, job changes, and salary reductions to infringe on women's legitimate rights to employment equality. According to the "2023 China Women's Workplace Status Survey Report" released by Zhaopin, more than ninety percent of women have encountered injustice in the workplace, and the average salary is lower than that of men, and gender and marriage and childbirth have become the main obstacles to promotion. When some companies recruit, they pay more attention to women's age, marital status, appearance, and body than they can do. Many companies will turn away female job seekers on the grounds that unmarried and pregnant women have unstable marital status, married and pregnant women have high employment costs in the future, and married and pregnant women focus on family. Over time, occupational discrimination against women has become more severe.
The issue of gender employment discrimination needs to be solved through the joint efforts of **, enterprises and all sectors of society. **The department needs to strengthen the protection of laws and regulations, fully consider the employment costs and interests of enterprises when formulating relevant policies, and ensure that the policies can balance the rights and interests of women and the needs of enterprise development. Second, enterprises should eliminate gender discrimination in the recruitment and hiring process and provide employment opportunities fairly. At the same time, we should care for and understand female employees during pregnancy and establish a good corporate image. In addition, all sectors of society should also strengthen publicity and education on gender equality and professional equality, raise social attention to the employment environment for women, and jointly create a good employment environment.