RRI Live!

Listen to Radio Romania International Live

Parental Leave

According to an old Romanian saying, being a mother is the hardest job of all, not to mention being unpredictable, as weve seen in recent years in Romania. Only one year after the Romanian authorities modified the provisions regulating parental leave, th

Parental Leave
Parental Leave

, 29.04.2012, 16:50


A new emergency ordinance in keeping with the European directive on parental leave came into effect as of March the 1st. The new regulation encourages fathers to be more present in their children’s lives. We spoke to Lacramioara Coches, the director of the General Social Assistance Directorate within the Romanian Ministry for Labour, Family and Social Protection. She told us more about this new government ordinance:


”After carrying out a number of studies, the European Union arrived at the conclusion that for men and women to have equal opportunities it is necessary that both members of the couple get involved in the raising and education of the children. The European Union therefore asked all its member states to introduce in their respective national legislations a law according to which each parent has to stay at home with the newborn child for at least one month starting on the 1st of March. This will mostly apply to fathers, as it is commonly known that in 90% of the cases it is the woman who stays at home with the child.”




This percentage can be explained if we look at a report made public in Brussels to mark European Equal Pay Day, which says that in Europe women earn nearly 17% less than men. Statistics show that in most cases the salary is the key factor in deciding which parent stays at home with the newborn baby. In Romania, parental leave is currently one or two years, as chosen by the parent. Under the new ordinance, the baby will have to spend at least one month of this period with the other parent.




For parents who refuse, this month will be deduced from the parental leave or allocated to the other parent, who will not, however, receive any allowance for it. Although it was hailed as a positive initiative, the ordinance in its present form has triggered a wave of criticism on the grounds that it does not take into account the reality of being a parent in Romania. With details, here is the president of a mothers’ rights group, Ana Maita:


”It is cynical to say that parents in Romania choose to have a baby based on financial calculations. The government wants to encourage people to be responsible when they decide to have a child, which means making sure they can afford to raise the child and provide for the child’s education, but at the same time it deprives middle class couples of legislative predictability. You simply cannot change the rules in the middle of the game.”




When this happens, parents are left with no choice but to resort to solutions that are not in the spirit of the European directive we spoke about earlier. Stefan Dumitrescu is about to become a dad. For a lawyer working with a private company, the new government ordinance is an infringement of parental rights.


“I myself don’t think it is good legislation, because it basically denies parents the leave that had already been set at precisely one or two years. Basically we are in the absurd situation in which the state gives you the right to stay home for a month, and if the parent refuses or doesn’t claim that month, then the rights of the parents and children are violated, because their leave is cut back”.




At the same time, an association militating for the rights of fathers stands against this legal measure, and suggested the government take a number of measures meant to encourage both parents to become involved in the life of their children. In a letter to the prime minister, the attorney of the association, Bogdan Draghici, said:


“Our proposal is for parents to be able to get, aside from this year of parental leave, a bonus for the other parent who also opts for the leave. We propose a period of three months on top of this year of leave, and since this is a longer period, measures can be taken in the workplace, such as finding staff able to replace the people who take three months leave for parenting, so as to cover the period recommended by experts for breastfeeding, creating favourable premises for recovering the huge losses we suffered in terms of earlier legislative changes. These changes concern the reduction of maternity leave and smaller child benefit contributions. We need to sustain the birth rate and keep families going, in order to have healthy children”.




Right now, 33,000 dads are on parental leave in Romania. Even if their number will increase through this law, some people argue that this will not solve all the problems. That is because in Romania fathers will have to fight a system that favours the mother. Here is Bogdan Draghici once again:


“We have a large problem in Romania when it comes to visiting sick children in hospital. A father who is on parental leave cannot spend a night in hospital at the bedside of their child. Hospital managers ask mothers and grandmothers to stay there – the female relatives. We are facing an absurd situation. The father on leave takes his child to the hospital because the child is sick and he is told: you can’t stay, the mother has to be here. But the mother can’t be there because she doesn’t have childcare leave, because she can’t, since the father has taken it. There are a lot of problems to be solved against a legal framework that is based on the principle of ‘We’ll see what happens’. “




For the time being, the parents of children born after 1 March 2012 have to give their partner a month of the legally granted leave. Polls show that few couples in Romania are ready to put this new directive into practice, preferring to go back to work sooner rather than disrupt the functioning of the family and the life of their child.

(foto: Anqa / pixabay.com)
Society Today Wednesday, 23 October 2024

Access to contraceptive methods in post-communist Romania: 35 years on

Romanian society has a troublesome past regarding reproductive health. The country’s troubled past began in 1966. We recall that back then a decree...

Access to contraceptive methods in post-communist Romania: 35 years on
Photo: pixabay.com
Society Today Wednesday, 16 October 2024

New solutions for old problems: bullying

A study carried out by Save the Children at the beginning of the year showed that one in two students in Romania was a victim of threats, humiliation...

New solutions for old problems: bullying
Photo: pixabay.com
Society Today Wednesday, 02 October 2024

Romania must redefine itself economically

In 2022, the employed population of Romania was 7.6 million people. Of these, 5.5 million were employees with individual employment contracts. Most...

Romania must redefine itself economically
The Urban Bee Patrol
Society Today Wednesday, 25 September 2024

The Urban Bee Patrol

The concrete walls and trees groomed every season, are sometimes home to bees with honeycombs. Tens of thousands of bees find shelter in ventilation...

The Urban Bee Patrol
Society Today Wednesday, 18 September 2024

Romania’s new faces

Romania has been facing a workforce deficit for quite some time now, created by a negative birthrate, a dramatic ageing of the population and a...

Romania’s new faces
Society Today Wednesday, 11 September 2024

The Second Gender

Among all European countries, Romania has the lowest female employment rate. 45.4% of Romanian women have a job, compared to men, of whom 62.7% are...

The Second Gender
Society Today Wednesday, 04 September 2024

Support for Child Refugees from Ukraine

After more than two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the first waves of Ukrainian refugees who found Romania unprepared, but extremely...

Support for Child Refugees from Ukraine
Society Today Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Gift of Life Bucharest Hospital Finally Opens

The “Dăruiește Viață” (Give Life) hospital, in Bucharest, started functioning de facto in mid-April. 50 children have already been...

Gift of Life Bucharest Hospital Finally Opens

Partners

Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român
Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS
Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online
Institului European din România Institului European din România
Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti
Muzeul Național de Artă al României Muzeul Național de Artă al României
Le petit Journal Le petit Journal
Radio Prague International Radio Prague International
Muzeul Național de Istorie a României Muzeul Național de Istorie a României
ARCUB ARCUB
Radio Canada International Radio Canada International
Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti” Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti”
SWI swissinfo.ch SWI swissinfo.ch
UBB Radio ONLINE UBB Radio ONLINE
Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl
creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti
italradio italradio
Institutul Confucius Institutul Confucius
BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți

Affiliates

Euranet Plus Euranet Plus
AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters
Digital Radio Mondiale Digital Radio Mondiale
News and current affairs from Germany and around the world News and current affairs from Germany and around the world
Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona

Providers

RADIOCOM RADIOCOM
Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company