The new paternity leave, a big step for Emmanuel Macron, a small step for the French. Deciphering.

Last weekend, the French labour minister Elizabeth Borne reminded the newspaper Le Parisien that "the economic crisis linked to the Covid (editor's note) must not put the fight against pay inequalities" between women and men on the back burner. As Léa Salamé reminded her on France Inter on Monday morning, the 9% gap persists, despite the cultural shift that is trying to take place as best it can in the post-Me too era. Skeptics who claim that pay parity has already been achieved are not displeased, but this year once again, from 4 November at 4:16 pm, women will be working for free.

The reasons for this discrepancy are cultural and (unfortunately) systemic:

First of all, there are the good old cognitive biases that have a hard time: women are more sensitive, less assertive, and therefore less willing. They are hormonal, and therefore have mood swings. They are hysterical rather than authoritarian, and so on. To name but a few. 

There is also the unshakeable belief that women are all mothers (present or future), and will therefore be less productive, monopolised by the family home.

Alas, this belief, however old-fashioned it may be, is true. Educated from an early age to take care of their own free of charge and with good will, 73% of French women declared in 2019 that they do much more at home than their spouse. Figures published by the IFOP, whose findings are indisputable:

"Contrary to popular belief, inequalities in the distribution (of domestic work editor's note) between the two sexes are reducing only very slowly. A comparison of the data with a study carried out in 2005 shows that the proportion of men not doing any work has hardly changed in about fifteen years". 

However, many women are trying to do it all at once, developing the art of multi-tasking as a competitive sport. At the risk of their health, both physical and mental.

The solution: a real parental leave that is entirely joint and compulsory.

Among the concrete measures that could bring about a change in mentality and this reality: an improvement and standardisation of parental leave, which men themselves are increasingly demanding. 

In order to see clearly on this complex subject, we need to hold on to it. 

To sum up: from a legal point of view, maternity, paternity and parental leave are three different things. The first two are generally compulsory and paid as sick leave. The third is a supplement to the other two, usually less paid, and can be shared between the two parents in different ways. Its duration, rate of pay and possible sharing depend on the legislation in force in the country concerned.

After a first failed attempt in 2008, the European Commission has again tried to legislate for an upward levelling of the standards applied in the EU. The result was a directive on the cheap (thank you Mr Macron) which nevertheless requires harmonisation. It offers the possibility of leave of at least ten working days for "fathers or, where appropriate, persons recognised as equivalent second parents by national legislation". 

Payment for the leave must be guaranteed and be equivalent "at least to what the worker concerned would receive in the event of interruption of his activities due to his state of health". By August 2022, all countries will therefore have to offer this possibility to fathers, who will then choose whether or not to take advantage of it. 

In France, the president announced last month that in July 2021 the proposed paternity leave would be increased from 2 to 4 weeks, one of which would be compulsory. Women are entitled to 16 weeks maternity leave, 8 of which are compulsory. This is the equivalent of a Larousse definition for "double standards".

So what about parental leave? It could counterbalance inequalities, as is the case in Sweden. In our northern neighbours too, paternity leave only lasts 10 days. But parental leave offers 240 extra days to each parent, of which 90 days are non-transferable. A practice that has become part of the country's culture, where young fathers naturally take advantage of this leave, without any impact on their careers.

Let's come back to France. Here parental leave is not about to change things. Although it lasts two years, it is too poorly compensated to be attractive (the equivalent of one third of the minimum wage, we leave the calculation to you). 98% of the parents who agree to take it are therefore... women.

Women's best results: the absurdity of the paradox

Before the European Commission, President Macron justified his refusal of more progressive harmonisation by "an explosion of costs". However, according to Antoine Math, researcher at IRES, with a more balanced parental leave :

"Overall employment would increase and the country would generate more tax revenue and less expenditure, particularly on unemployment benefits (and secondarily on health care)", IRES researcher Antoine Math believes.

By 2050, the European directive which proposed better paid paternity and parental leave would have led to an increase in real income of 0.52% in Europe, with an increase of 1.6 million jobs (overwhelmingly held by women), and 1.4 million more people in employment.

So.

As for the bosses who justify the gender pay gap (for those who assume it) by women's lack of investment (or even, for the more cheeky ones, by their lack of capacity), it should be remembered that many studies actually state that companies run by women or with a strong parity culture simply have better results.

This is the case of a report published by S&P Global in 2019 which indicates that companies run by women perform better on the stock market than those run by men.

The same is true of Women Equity, which works to support SMEs run by women, which confirms that more feminised administrations have financial results 36% higher than those run by men.

Initiating change

While waiting for things to change on the parental leave side, companies that want to make a difference can start by following the government's guidelines as measured by the Professional Equality Index, created by the Avenir Professionnel law of September 2018.

The Galion Project, the charter drawn up by the Galion entrepreneurs is also an excellent tool for promoting parity in the workplace.

And, of course, organisations offer awareness-raising workshops or training on these subjects to implement good practices in everyday life to promote diversity, inclusion and equality within companies. This is, moreover, the mission that originally motivated the creation of Free Voice.