Next time you hear a Brazilian complaining about market inequality among men and women, tell them to tell it to the Senate, that just approved a maternity leave (.br) of six months. Granted, it still has to go through the Chamber and the President, but there seems to be no reason to think it’ll fare any worse there.
Now, the comments are open for anyone who wants to try and convince me that allowing women to stay half a year off work when they have a children (and have children they will) won’t be a major incentive for employers to give preference to men.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Cisco // Oct 19, 2007 at 5:04 pm
At the margin, at the margin. It’s an important part of that last sentence.
As much as I hate such laws, it’s not all the government’s fault: women would get pregnant either way, and some (fair) discrimination against them would happen either way. Obviously, at the margin, the government is making the situation worse. But it’s not creating it, which might be even harder for most feminists to admit.
2 Simão // Oct 22, 2007 at 5:05 am
Won’t the maternity leave be subsidized by the Goverment?
3 Solon Brochado // Oct 22, 2007 at 7:31 am
Simão: In a way, yes. The last two months, should the contractor decide to opt for this method, would be wholly deductible from the income tax. Still, it would mean that, even in cases of adoption, you’d lose a worker for half a year, with all the problems this entails.
On a related note, for those interested, this article Cisco sent me on why women are doing so well in the labor market despite the whole maternity leave problem, is a very interesting read.
4 Elizabeth Anderson // Oct 23, 2007 at 12:05 am
Giving women 6 months maturnity leave is generous and a good idea. I believe you are incorrect.
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