We are in election year and this means that we will be hearing, from all political parties, a lot of good news, promises and good intentions. A few days ago we listened to Rajoy explaining that they were going to expand aid for the most disadvantaged parents with something like a baby check that won't be for everyone.
Now it is the turn of "Podemos", which yesterday presented a proposal that does not leave us indifferent: a periodic payment for each child we have and a paternity leave of 16 weeks, exactly like the one women have.
To the tail of Europe in terms of aid
I think I don't discover anything new when I say that a lot of Spanish money goes where I shouldn't go. Between corrupt and plugged in, in the end we pay the duck which we fight every day so that the food on the table is not lacking. That, of course, leaves us in an unsustainable situation: we are at the tail of Europe in terms of helping families and having a ridiculous birth. At this stage the aging of the population is imminent and we will soon reach an unsustainable point where there will be no one to pay the retirement to the elderly.
Unless someone does something, and that something is to do what other countries interested in increasing birth rates do, helping families to bear the burden of having children, with extensive maternal and paternal leave and with periodic financial aid, and now not only to increase the birth rate, but also to to take care of our children without having to leave them hundreds of hours a day in the care of third parties.
This is what the political party of Pablo Iglesias, who yesterday presented the report "Reorganize the system of care: a necessary condition for economic recovery and democratic progress", must be thinking, along with economists María Pazos and Bibiana Medialdea.
Pay for baby and equal parental leave
According to the match We can, the current system of care for dependents, the elderly and children is incomplete and ineffective, in addition to a source of inequality, since such care falls mostly on women. That is why they suggest the implementation of a "universal benefit per child, independent of the level of income and the type of family". It would be something like a periodic pay, but At the moment it is not specified how much it would be or for how many months or years it would be perceived. To this payment would be added another benefit for single parents without taking into account the number of children in the family.
In addition, it is proposed to match paternity leave to maternity leave so that both have 16 weeks to care for the newborn. This measure is very curious, because it would mean going from 2 weeks, which is what we have now parents, to 16, with a brutal increase of 14 weeks. Come on, we have been waiting for the arrival of the promised parental leave of 4 weeks, which was going to be an important change, by doubling the current leave, and from Podemos we are told that neither 2 nor 4, directly the same as the mother. The idea is clear: if we want equality at work, if we want to eliminate discrimination against women because they are mothers, let's put men and women the same low and so there will be no differences.
What do you think of these measures?
I will give you my opinion in another post, in a little while. For now, I drop in this post the measures to give your opinion. What is clear is that if Podemos has decided to present these initiatives it is because they have seen that there is a need, that is to say, that they have seen that, comparing ourselves with other European countries, we are bad, very bad, as far as labor and family conciliation is concerned.
Now we just need to start counting the days to see what other matches add to the car and start with the auction: 16 weeks and one pay for each child? Does anyone give more? Does anyone give less?
