In Germany, there's the "parental leave" (not maternal or paternal leave) [0]. The time period is 12 months with parental allowance : 2/3rds of your income - 300 to 1800 €. If the mother and father share the parental leave, the leave extends until 14 months. Of course, there are other benefits like child care etc. [1] after the child has grown up.
[0] http://www.bamf.de/EN/Willkommen/KinderFamilie/Elterngeld/el...
[1] http://www.bamf.de/EN/Willkommen/KinderFamilie/Kinderbetreuu...
However, "sharing" in this case does not necessarily mean equal parts. The rule is "max. 14 months in total, but max. 12 months per parent". So a lot of couples end up doing 12 months maternal leave and 2 months paternal leave (not all though).
One possible solution is to make the maternity/paternity leave mandatory "within a year" rather than immediately.
Also, keep in mind you're not, in any event, being forced. It's your choice whether to have kids or not.
Best to just mandatory-castrate your employees.
> Best to just mandatory-castrate your employees.
Ok, it's clear you aren't interested in solutions, you're just morality-trolling.
No, I'm not. I'm just pointing out your "solution" isn't. Why do you think it is OK to just insult me?
You're back at the start: I'll just hire a male since they won't take maternity breaks. Or I'll hire a woman and build that risk into her salary by paying her less.
I believe the only way we can get past that is to make the leave mandatory for both parents, but I'm open to (reasonable) alternatives. You're yet to provide any.
No, they're not. Details below.
>With lower daycare costs, you don't need to take a long maternity leave
Sure, you can make it shorter by taking away the freedom of the parents to take care of their own child instead of leaving that to daycare. I believe that above you were strongly against taking away parents' freedom.
>just enough for recovery.
And while it's shorter, it's still there, so there's inequality, unless (again) both parents are forced to take the exact same leave.
>And the re-introduction programs don't have to come from the employing company, it can be driven by the government so companies don't feel they are impacted by pregnancies. Maybe a tax write-off for post-pregnancy job training?
This would never average out to equality, it'd just add an annoying layer of complexity. A company will just hire a male just to not have to deal with any of this.
> Decrease costs of daycare and create programs to re-introduce child-bearing women
Are those not solutions? With lower daycare costs, you don't need to take a long maternity leave, just enough for recovery. And the re-introduction programs don't have to come from the employing company, it can be driven by the government so companies don't feel they are impacted by pregnancies. Maybe a tax write-off for post-pregnancy job training?
Obviously there's the associated job of changing perceptions around taking the leave, which will vary from country to country, but by making the risks associated by hiring a man no different from those associated by hiring a woman you move towards eliminating this gender imbalance.
As an additional benefit, both parents are more likely to have time to bond with their newborn or newly adopted child and share the burden of early parenting.