Shall I be mother?

The current rules about parental leave "patronise women and marginalise men". That is the view of, father of three, Nick Clegg, who has announced proposals to allow couples to share paternity leave. Fathers will be able to take up any remaining unpaid leave if their partners return to work without using their full entitlement. Clegg has criticised the rules as 'Edwardian' and has confirmed that the Coalition intend to consult on a complete reform of  parental leave by 2015. 

According to the BBC, the proposals will also allow parents use the leave entitlement together and to take leave in separate periods rather than as one continuous period. The reforms were first announced by Labour last January and their proposals seem to have found support with right-wing think-tank Demos. Their report concluded that: 'Rather than pay, the keys to maintaining parents' confidence in their ability to bring up children were flexible hours and the ability to be creative at work.' 

The Coalition want to create a more flexible system that will make the leave work for families' individual needs. The report entitled The Home Front, concludes that being in employment is good for parenting but can have a negative impact when the job is characterised by inflexibility in terms of hours and the culture of the workplace. The report also highlights that fathers work longer hours than childless colleagues, with a third putting in more than 48 hours a week. In 2010 the Department of Work and Pensions reported that 76% of mothers return to work within 12 to 18 months of having a child. It suggests that parents either don't enjoy childcare that much or that money, contrary to the Demos report, is a major consideration in deciding on childcare priorities. 

Jill Kirby, a director of the Centre for Policy Studies and author of 'The Price of Parenthood' says that:

"around 50,000 stay-at-home mums have been forced back to work over the past year. Faced with high mortgages and rising household costs, the number of stay-at-home mothers has dropped to just 2.07 million, the lowest level since records began in 1994. The overwhelming reason for mothers to return to work is sheer financial pressure, often much earlier than they would like. Many women do feel really trapped by their own situations."

A recent study by uSwitch.com found that average family income drops 34% during maternity leave, one in four mums end in debt, with an average of £1329 and 50% of mothers returning to work, with children under three, said the reason was financial presure. A YouGov Poll in 2009 found that a third of working mothers would not work at all if they had a choice. 

In the same year a report, 'What women want and how to get it' produced by the Centre for Policy Studies written by journalist Cristina Odone argued that 'notions of women's progress over the past decade have been measured by the 'wrong' things, such as more women in top jobs, a shrinking earnings gap and better state-funded childcare...There also needs to be a cultural shift where women are valued "not just for what they produce at the end of a working day.'

The slack in childcare has been taken up by day-nurseries. There are now 15,000 nurseries in the UK and around 277,000 children under three are enrolled in day nurseries, and 21% of children aged under two spend some time in day nurseries. After grandparents, day nurseries are the most popular form of childcare for working parents who have children under three. 

As Cristona Odone concluded, what parents really want is the choice. Her report recommended that rather than simply offering childcare vouchers; families should be able to get national insurance credits for carers, allow working partners to take up the unused tax allowance of the other parent and make it easier for firms to employ part-time workers.

Meanwhile, in Brussels back in October, the 'family friendly' Coalition MEPs voted against draft legislation that would entitle mothers to 20 weeks maternity leave on full pay. The current entitlement in Britain is six weeks. The Coalition is strongly opposed to the legislation because of the possible effect on British business and is lobbying the Council of Ministers who will have the final say. What I think is truly patronising is the belief that a cheap 'family friendly' makeover will hide where the Coalition's true priorities really are.

Now, where did I leave the children?