The Working Mother in Europe

Although women in Europe may be discriminated against in the workforce and workplace this doesn’t keep them from working, and more and more women keep their jobs even after having children. Today the working mother in Europe is not something out of the ordinary; however, the working mother is more prevalent in some European countries than others. For example, more women are part in the workforce in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland than in Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, or Germany.

One of the biggest challenges that working mothers face is how to balance work and motherhood, and the minimal childcare services that are provided in the work force makes balancing work and motherhood even more difficult. However, one country that has “highly-supportive policies” is Scandinavia which supports both mothers and children by providing a sufficient supply of childcare services and generous parental leave regulations, and as a result Scandinavia has high female employment rates.

Although childcare services are minimal in Europe, other aspects such as maternity leave are far better than in the United States. In the United States, a mother working for a US company must work at least one year before she can take a twelve week maternity leave; however, many other European countries offer far longer maternity leaves. For example, Germany offers fourteen weeks with full pay, Norway—twenty-six weeks at full pay, and Sweden—ninety-six weeks with seventy-eight weeks at eighty percent pay. In addition, mothers don’t only get some form of paternity leave, but fathers as well. In France, new fathers can get up to eleven consecutive days of full paid leave. Another option that the French law also provides is three years of parental leave per child; however, this is generally unpaid leave but it allows parents to leave their jobs without quitting and return back to their exact same job and salary three years later. Therefore, an example that this article gave was that it’s possible to have three children in a row and not have to work for nine years straight.

One reason that the article pointed out as to why the maternity and paternity leave was better in Europe than in the United States was in terms of responsibilities and values. According to the director of the work and family programs for the National Partnership for Women and Families—Jodi Grant, Grant notes that in the US the general feeling is that it’s solely the parent’s responsibility to care for the child and not the government’s unlike in Europe. According to Grant Europe recognizes that the children are the future, and therefore it’s important to take care of them and raise them well.

Bibliography:
1) http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/08/23/radviser_ed3_.php
2) http://books.google.com/books?id=3ze9lf3P1ewC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Europe+the+working+mom&source=web&ots=Maqv8yKz2V&sig=cnDxaHXey0LHJve13A6xHFtOX18&hl=en
3) http://www.apesma.asn.au/women/maternity_leave_around_the_world.asp#Europe