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Thursday 17th May 2012

Employer shake up as EU vote on maternity leave

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Employer shake up as EU vote on maternity leave

Posted by Maggie Berry 24 November 2010 Careers |  Politics |  Women European MEP’s have overwhelmingly voted in favour of increasing the number of weeks women receive full pay whilst on maternity leave.  Currently, women are entitled to fourteen weeks at full pay but the proposed change would see this rising to twenty weeks.

If this does come into force it will be welcome news for female staff, giving them the ability to spend more time at home following the birth of a child, without the financial worries some currently contend with. But it may very well have negative connotations for women in the early stages of their career.  Employment lawyer Philip Henson has claimed that it may result in some businesses becoming wary of employing women of child bearing age. What’s more he has stated that it will result in ‘yet another unwelcome glass ceiling for women, blocking not only their upward advancement, but also their initial recruitment’.

Whilst I am sure this move is intended to help women, is the government seeing the full picture? What about paternity leave? The UK already has the most unequal parental leave in Europe and these new measures will exacerbate this problem further. Until men and women are given more equal opportunities when it comes to parental leave and childcare, we’re not going to see any more women in the boardrooms that need them so badly.

Despite the recent vote in favour of this change, it is not known when, and to what extent it will come into practice. The reality is there will now have to be vote on it by national governments, where some are undoubtedly going to object. It remains to see what will happen but it is definitely worth keeping an eye on in the coming months.
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