Good morning,
Adam Smith said that an invisible hand regulated the market. There was no need to intervene, it was enough to let this “natural” force act. This idea, widely questioned by so many people (and by life itself), has another aspect that, even if Smith never wrote, was implicit: another invisible hand regulates care. There is no need to intervene, because it is not even an economic activity, but rather a private, family matter, of affection in which each person must organize themselves as they see fit.
And you’ll tell me what’s wrong with Requena today when she starts talking to me about Adam Smith. Well then The latest proposal of the PP about conciliation made me think about this. Alberto Núñez Feijóo says he wants to change the design of birth permits so that the first six weeks after giving birth are not mandatory. He does it in the name of freedom. “The PP is not going to get involved in the distribution of leave between mothers and fathers. “They will have freedom during the baby’s first year,” he said on Monday. I’ll try to explain the invisible hand thing, it will take me a few paragraphs.
The fact is that the debate on extending and equalizing maternity and paternity leave has been long and complex. Should they be completely non-transferable between parents or should there be room for mothers and fathers to “transfer” the weeks? How many weeks should be made mandatory and at what point after the birth? On one point, there was consensus: they should be paid one hundred percent, because, among other things, the facts show that men take leave when they are paid.
For the rest, there were discussions because some voices asked, for example, that only the first two weeks be mandatory immediately after childbirth for mothers and fathers, in order to promote successive care of babies and not simultaneous care. It was a way, they defended, to generate parents who learned to be primary caregivers, and not simple parental assistants. Not everyone agreed, since the first six weeks coincide with the postpartum period, an extremely delicate period in every sense of the word: the mother’s recovery, her physical and emotional health, the vulnerability of a baby, assuming you have had a child, founding a certain family and care routines…
Finally, in 2021, Spain became the first country in the world in which mothers and fathers receive the same leave: 16 non-transferable, fully paid weeks, six of which are mandatory after childbirth. Since then, there has been some evidence of how they are being used, although it is obviously too early to make a thorough assessment. I summarize much of the content of two recent studies (you have a version wider here).
On the one hand, men mostly take full leave, but they tend to do it in parts, so as not to lose contact with the job for long, while women often take it. On the other hand, less than 20% of fathers decide to take turns looking after the mother, that is, to use simultaneously the first six compulsory weeks and the rest at the end of her leave.
“The PP seems to ignore all this background that social movements, feminist associations and many researchers have been concocting for some time to simply invoke freedom. For the right, there is no need to regulate care, there is no need to intervene in any way to change inertia.
What lies behind everything I tell you – debates, data and studies – is the confirmation that care, far from being distributed in an equitable or fair way, follows a deeply patriarchal logic. And that its unequal distribution is closely linked to labor shortages. and economical. And what lies behind this is also the concern about how to improve social protection and reconciliation with measures that promote equality (in care and employment) and do not reinforce gender roles, quite the contrary.
One book (at least) for all this: “Who cooked Adam Smith’s dinner?”, by Katrine Marçal.
You might be interested…
- Monday was International Bisexuality Day. And I really enjoyed it. this text by Patricia Reguero for Magagazine on motherhood, desire, bisexuality, fear, discoveries…
- The Pélicot trial continues in France. A few days ago, the protagonist criticized some of the questions and comments she was subjected to, also in the courtroom. “Do you have exhibitionist tendencies?”, a defense lawyer asked. This is an example of revictimization. and why it is so difficult for so many victims to do what Gisèle does: come forward, expose themselves.
- And besides, Isabel Valdés tells the story of another Gisele in El País: Gisele Halimithe French lawyer who promoted a change in the law and argued that trials for sexual violence should be held in open court.
One last remark
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GOOD, and a song so to dance.
Anne
