How Much Paid Leave Should New Moms Get - Three Months or Three Years?

How long should paid maternity leave be? Three months? Six months? A year? Or three whole years?

Though Chinese laws and regulations allow 98 days of maternity leave, Zhang Lihui, a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested that the entitlement be increased to three years, until the newborns are old enough to be sent to kindergarten.

According to Zhang, this would not only meet the psychological and educational needs of children, but also help mothers work more efficiently in the future as they do not need to worry too much about their children.

The issue of extending maternity leave has been a hot topic in China in recent years. Those championing the proposal say motherhood means putting in greater effort and longer time. So new mothers need corresponding care and asking for extended maternity leave is a reasonable demand.

However, critics argue that three years' leave will create a tougher situation for women in the job market and hinder their career development.

Pro

Wan Hongli

Kindergarten teacher in Shanghai

Three years are an appropriate period for maternity leave. When a baby turns three, he/she can be sent to kindergarten. But before that, the mother should spend more time looking after and playing with the kid, to help him/her adjust to the outside world. Extending maternity leave will benefit not only mothers but also their babies.

Nowadays, many young couples have to ask their parents to look after their kids while they work. However, many grandparents tend to spoil the kids, and very often, young couples have opinions different from their parents on how to educate their babies. That might lead to family disputes. If women are allowed three years' leave, they can look after their babies themselves and not need to worry about these problems.

Con

Shen Binti

Lawyer of Zhongwen Law Firm in Beijing

I often handle cases related to gender discrimination at the workplace. I believe extending maternity leave will negatively affect women, especially in terms of employment. Under the market economy, employers are responsible for their profits and losses and therefore, reluctant to pay women employees on maternity leave. If women are allowed three years' maternity leave, many employers, especially small- and medium-sized private companies, might be less willing to hire women. As a result, women, especially young women about to get married or give birth, might have a harder time finding a job.

Pro

Deng Dongrui

Gynecologist with Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province

Many women have to stop breastfeeding their babies after their maternity leave ends since they cannot leave work to go back home to nurse their babies and the workplace has no separate room for breastfeeding. However, the World Health Organization encourages women to breastfeed exclusively for six months, and to continue breastfeeding for at least two years for infants' better nutrition and health. The government should extend maternity leave to achieve this goal. 

Con

Zhang Yongmei

Deputy Director, Maternal and Child Health Center, Dongguan, Guangdong Province

The current maternity leave period should be extended but three years would be too much since it takes only three to six months to recover from childbirth. Maternity leave is supposed to benefit women and not to cause more gender inequality. In some developed countries, men are allowed equal paternity leave, which effectively eliminates gender discrimination in job markets. In some European countries, both parents can take optional parental leave. Those measures could be taken into account when revising related regulations.

Pro

Wang Youjun

President of Watchdata Technologies

I suggest maternity leave be increased to three years. Mothers are crucial in the first three years of babies' lives. So they should have the option to focus on bringing their children up and then resume their career. Babies of three months old still make it difficult for their mothers to get enough sleep and maintain their work schedule. Babies need three years to grow up sufficiently for their mothers to return to work. 

Con

Liu Peng

Media commentator

The suggestion to extend maternity leave to three years is too idealistic, and will cause difficulties. It will lead to a more difficult situation for women in the job market. For most employers, the current maternity leave allowance is an important consideration when hiring staff, resulting in gender inequality to some extent. If the suggestion is implemented, salaries and benefits paid to staff on maternity leave would increase, which would be a heavy burden for employers, especially private companies.

It will also hinder women's career development. After being out of the loop for three years, women may become socially disoriented and may find it hard to keep pace with the industrial advances at their workplace. As a result, employers may avoid appointing them in important positions or giving them important assignments. 

Con

Sun Meimei

Accountant with a state-owned enterprise in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

I think taking long maternity leave might adversely influence a woman's career development. Given China's rapid economic and technological development, a woman might have a hard time meeting the new work requirements when she returns to her office after three years. It might be better to allow one year of leave during which new mothers can take care of their babies and also attend some courses so that they will not lag behind their colleagues when they return to work.

Con

Liang Min

Human resources manager with a private firm in Beijing

It's easy to understand why some companies are opposing the proposal. Employers have to pay the staff's salary while she is on maternity leave, despite the fact that she is not contributing to business and helping generate profit. If staffers are allowed three years' maternity leave, an enterprise will suffer economic losses.

Also, many couples are deciding to have a second child since the government adopted the "selective two-child policy" in November 2013, allowing couples to have two children if either the husband or the wife is the only child in his/her family. If the government agrees to three years' maternity leave, who will want to hire a woman who wants two children [since that means she will have to be given six years of paid maternity leave]?

Pro

Yang Wei

Staff with a foreign company in Beijing

As a working mother, I have a hard time striking a balance between my work and family duties. With so much effort going into taking care of my baby, sometimes I can hardly concentrate on my work. Extending maternity leave will definitely benefit many young women like me. If we are allowed three years' leave, we will have more energy to take care of our babies, and we will return to our offices refreshed. That will help us achieve success in our careers and happiness at home.