As of January 2021, when a child is born in Spain, each parent has sixteen weeks of work leave, of the same length and non-transferable. However, since November 2019, the Basque Government has made authorisations equal by means of a grant. It is presented as a measure in favour of gender equality and appears to be good news. But I have to say that he has convinced me of the critical discourse of the PETRA Feminist Motherhood platform.
First of all, I would say that the two criticisms of this group that defends the extension of maternity leave and that they are comparable should create a feminist consensus. On the one hand, the benefit should be universal, since the contract of employment is not a redistributive measure. In other words, the State maintains a salary of EUR 3,000 to a privileged worker, and gives what is insignificant to an unemployed person, an unemployed person without a contract of employment or thousands of women in reproductive work. Furthermore, the measure discriminates against single-parent children (although it has taken into account the subsidies of the Basque Government).
"The State maintains a salary of 3,000 euros to the privileged worker and gives what cannot be to the unemployed, to whom it has no employment contract or to thousands of women who work in reproductive work"
The non-transferability of permits has been announced as a feminist measure, as it will affect parental co-responsibility and solve gender discrimination in the labour market. However, PETRA has responded to these two premises. On the one hand, as long as parental leave is limited, many mothers will continue to enjoy excess and shorter working hours, and employers know that. On the other hand, the non-obligatory granting of permits assumes the paradox that men who do not intend to engage in care can give up, while parents with a high commitment of care will meet the limit of sixteen weeks. In addition, PETRA argues that, being the maternity leave of the Spanish State the shortest in Europe, the prolongation of paternity is not a feminist: to allocate public money to men who have not manifested their will to take care of themselves (here we have the anecdotal percentages of leave) implies a fortification of their privileges.
In any case, like my lesbian mother, I would like to add that it bothers me that a measure to force co-responsibility in heterosexual couples is also imposed on non-heteronormative families. Gender is not the only crack: when one partner has a living wage and the other is unemployed or precarious, it is a strategic transfer option.
Another conflicting point is that PETRA demands public policies that support pregnancy, childbirth, puerperium and breastfeeding, and many feminists find this discourse essentialist and biologicist. I believe that for most sixteen weeks it is not enough to guarantee physical, psychological and emotional composition. Moreover, this length is contradictory to the lactation model (lactation on demand) highly recommended in public health. Once again, leave is the solution for many and in that choice is conditioned by class.
Don't believe, being the mouthpiece at the crack, it's weird and uncomfortable for me to crawl into the feminism of difference. It is clear that extending permits and breaking the heterosexistential logic of father/mother permits is a step forward. Well, let's move on. Overcoming polarization, identifying consensus and accepting the different ways of understanding, feeling and shaping feminist motherhood.