It is now official, the claim of the PPIINA It was addressed when on October 19, when a proposal No of Law was approved by the Congress of Deputies, which obtained 173 votes in favor, 164 abstentions and 2 votes against. It means that although given its NLP status it has symbolic value, maternity and paternity leave will tend (if implanted) to equalize in 16 weeks, and will be non-transferable. Here I see the first incongruity: with all my respect for the role of men in parenting, we already know that there is a very widespread and repeated demand for mothers to breastfeed their babies for 6 months exclusively, and that is the to extend maternity leave to 6 months.
It is alleged "the injustice that means that parents are deprived of their right to care, no matter how much they have contributed for it." The proposal was promoted by Unidos Podemos and obtained the abstention of PP, Ciudadanos, UPN and Foro Asturias; It will not be law until it goes through the relevant procedures, although it has been claimed that the budgets include the extension of paternity leave to 4 weeks (now the parents enjoy 13 days), something that was foreseen by the equality law of 2010. I have not just seen it clearly, and below I will tell you why.
Before I must clarify that I agree with Podemos in that in our country women suffer gender pay gap and feminization of poverty: taking care of children and dependents often takes us away from the labor market, and it is already known that if we 'do not produce' (in the sense that capital understands) there is no economic income involved. However, it is no less true that human capital is undervalued, and here I do not care if we talk about men or women, but we have been asking for six-month maternity leave for years (for facilitate breastfeeding and the bond between mother and baby) And now, egalitarian and non-transferable permits? if the fact that they can't 'give in' would squeak me a lot.
You are going to tell me that we have to be modern and European, yes, but it is that equality is not only equalizing rights, equality will be achieved when, from the performance of the corresponding roles, men come to involve more, and although I wish they can enjoy their babies, the involvement is possible even if the mother had a more extensive permission. And look, since it is a modern country, why not match the Swedish model? (16 months of which the father has the obligation to enjoy 60 + 10 days).
Parenting, women and feminisms.
I have already alluded to human capital: I am a firm defender of a concept that I have come to call 'society of care', that if nobody remedies it will end up disappearing: not everything is achieved with money, not everything has to be approved by capitalism. But care today should be one of the axes of our policies, because otherwise the groups that 'do not produce' will be left out, but also the people who care (generally women) could end up excluded. Parenting is a very important facet and an essential task: the problem is not that the majority of women have assumed it, but the lack of social networks and recognition.
In fact, and coinciding with the feminist artist Alicia Murillo, there is no more important work to raise, and all of us should dedicate ourselves at some point in our lives, if not, we should take the first opportunity that is given to us to CARE, because (if I remember correctly it expresses it that way) ' It's probably the only decent thing we do. ' We do not have to measure everything by the standard of time, financial compensation or institutions. Let's dedicate ourselves to the creatures because they are the most important thing. Honestly, I am of the opinion that women can have our role and social prominence because of who we are, and I doubt that the equalization of permits without more, achieves greater equality, or even more involvement of parents.
Let no one get mad at me: we are still far away but nowadays, those who really want to support and get involved do so; But there is another most strange issue: what modernity is it that makes it obvious that the mother + father + daughters and sons family model is not the only one nowadays? Single mothers, lesbian mothers, single fathers, homosexual fathers, ... Fortunately society is as diverse as people themselves, yes, it would be nice if there was a reflection in the rules.
The rights of babies.
We are tired of saying it: mother and baby need each other, not only after delivery… Do you remember exterogestation? Like Isabel Fernandez del Castillo, I say to myself 'Has anyone asked babies? Has anyone seen a perinatal psychologist? Because it turns out that today we know a lot more about the brain of babies, and there is no coincidence between what we think is socially accepted and what is beneficial to human creatures.
Our independence is gradual, if the process is forced disorders may appear; so gradual is like that (and I quote Del Castillo again) "Mother and baby are psychologically united for two years".
Do not think after reading that I do not want men to be involved in the care of their babies, but the bond with the father is different in these first 24 months of life. In addition, other measures can coexist socially, such as rationalization of schedules, flexible working hours, true conciliation, even basic income that some sociologists claim. It's not just my opinion, it's that we're talking about baby needs.