Mar 13, 2004
What mums in Europe really want
Job security, parental leave, subsidised childcare facilities, tax breaks, flexible work arrangements - these will make motherhood more attractive but there's only so much the state can do. The final decision on procreation still lies with the individuals. GRACE SUNG reports.
THE southern Italian village of Laviano is dying out.
Only four babies were born among its population of 1,850 last year. In 1970, there were 3,000 residents and 70 births.
The demographics are so dire that the mayor made a desperate offer a year ago - 10,000 euros (S$21,000) over six years to anyone who produces a baby.
'It's do or die. But we cannot stay impotent while our village disappears,' mayor Rocco Falivena told La Repubblica daily.
Laviano's story is not unique in Italy, whose 1.24 total fertility rate (TFR) is the lowest in Europe. The country also has the world's oldest population.
The government is trying to arrest the population decline by offering parents a 1,000-euro bonus if they have at least a second child by the end of this year.
To varying degrees, other countries in the region face similar demographic challenges. The average TFR in the European Union (EU) is 1.47, well below the 2.1 replacement rate. Non-EU states fare no better. The 10 incoming EU members have a 1.29 TFR average.
Experts have pointed to the dramatic consequences of a greying Europe. If the demographics stay the same, the size of the working population in today's EU will drop from 230 million to 190 million, to the detriment of the welfare system and the economy.
One way to tackle the ageing phenomenon is to encourage people to have more babies. The question is how?
Like Italy, other countries have thrown money at citizens in an attempt to reverse the trend. Two years ago, Austria (TFR 1.4) offered a 436-euro monthly payout for three years to people with new babies, if they earned less than 1,200 euros.
Combined with other allowances, the total monthly benefits reached 600 euros.
But birth rates have not risen. Experts point to various obstacles, like a lack of day-care facilities, keeping couples from having children.
Only 4 per cent of Austrian children under three benefit from state-financed day care. In Denmark (TFR 1.72), that figure is 64 per cent and in France (TFR 1.89), it is 20 per cent.
The amount of state money offered matters, of course.
Briton Jennie Vincent, 31, who has a 16-month-old daughter, said tax credits helped only a bit.
'We can get a few hundred pounds, but it's not even enough to cover nappies and food,' she said. 'It is just not cost-effective to get into full-time work. You'd end up paying most of what you make into childcare.'
Though surveys show most Italian women want at least two children, they too are unlikely to bite the 1,000-euro carrot. According to an official study, 38 per cent of 50,000 new mothers in Italy found it hard to reconcile family life with work, and 44 per cent cited working hours as a barrier to procreation.
Studies have shown that birth patterns are linked to job security. Italy, Spain and Greece, which have the lowest TFRs, had the highest youth unemployment rates in the EU in the late 1990s.
Their women's work participation rates are also low and activists say gender discrimination is to blame.
In Spain, twice as many women as men are jobless, though there are more female graduates. Poor state support, uncertainty over work and rejection of women's traditional role as housewife and childbearer are some reasons why almost half of Spain's women are childless.
Under such conditions, money is hardly a stimulus.
'Child benefits are not perceived as a real incentive for couples to have more children,' said Mr Aidan Punch of Ireland's Central Statistics Office. He is also president of the Council of Europe's committee on population.
'What's needed are more family-friendly policies: parental leave, work-sharing arrangements, greater labour market flexibility and availability of childcare facilities.'
It is the countries which have developed a coherent mix of policies facilitating partnering, childbearing and parenting choices which rank higher in the fertility table.
Take France for example. Generous welfare allocations, tax breaks and other perks for larger families, subsidised maternity and all-day childcare services all help make motherhood more attractive.
Women have 16 weeks of maternity leave with full pay, and up to 26 weeks for the third child onwards.
Invalid leading Invalid leading They can also take three years of parental leave without fear of losing their jobs.
Money does talk - if the amount is substantial. France spends 4.5 per cent of its GDP on families, more than any other European state. More than 41 billion euros go to 10 million families annually.
'Family policy advantages and incentives have played a major role in reversing the downward trend of the early 1990s,' said sociologist Anne Muxel of the French Centre for the Study of Political Life.
The situation is as positive for parents in Scandinavia, where TFRs are above the EU average. Policies giving aid and helping parents balance home and work life have been in place for 20 to 30 years.
Generous take-home pay during maternity and paternity leave are guaranteed.
Additional leave, parental benefits, support for single providers, family tax credits and rights to paid days off to care for sick children are all common. Parents also have flexible work options in the child's early years.
Work is not incompatible with parenthood. Nordic nations have some of the highest percentages of working women (60-75 per cent), including mothers of young children.
The high female labour participation is possible, partly due to the existence of well-developed networks of subsidised childcare services.
Thanks to a considerable legal and financial support system, up to 34 per cent of French and Scandinavian parents go on to have three or even four children.
Gender equality in the workplace and the greater involvement of Scandinavian fathers in parenting also have positive effects on birth rates.
In Nordic countries, it is not uncommon to see fathers change nappies or take months off work to look after children.
In Sweden, 35.6 per cent of days off to care for children are taken by fathers.
In the southern low-fertility countries, however, a change of mentality has not accompanied women's move into the workplace.
The burden of housework and childraising still generally falls on the mother.
According to a Financial Times report, the average Italian man spends 1hr 48min a day on childcare and other unpaid work - compared to 6hr and 24min for a woman in full-time paid work.
Demographic and health experts at the European Population Forum in January concluded: 'Fertility levels remain relatively high when there are high levels of gender equality in the economy, family and society and where there is a tolerance for diversity in family structures and partnering arrangements.'
Liberal attitudes towards single parenthood, cohabitation, divorce and childbearing, particularly when supported by policies conferring equal benefits and rights on people in new family structures, have contributed to northern Europe's higher birth rates.
So some government policies do work, and they are likely to stay.
French Family Minister Christian Jacob wants to encourage an even higher birth rate with state aid.
'The more children that are born, the better it is for our pension system and economy,' he said recently.
The consequences of the birth dearth are so drastic that even countries which have long resisted pro-parenthood talk have now stepped up a gear.
Last year, Britain increased paid maternity leave from eight to 26 weeks, gave fathers two weeks of paid leave and put more money into increasing the number of childcare places.
Germany is considering making its tax and welfare systems more family-friendly, and building more all-day schools and daycare centres.
But experts think more needs to be done.
Dr Herwig Birg, director of the Institute for Population Research and Social Policy at Bielefeld University in Germany, said the government had not wised up to the impact of ageing. Many policies had short-term effects, he said, adding: 'Above all, the idea that without children nothing works needs to be more popular.'
But how far can governments influence fertility patterns?
Dr Elke Hochmuth, a 40-year-old education consultant, is childless - as are almost one-third of German women her age.
'I studied for 10 years in university. There was just never a good time (for children). There were also financial issues. I couldn't take the time off and still travel,' she said.
'Now I'm 40, and biologically it's a little late. I'm not sorry about that now, but who knows how I'll feel in 10 years?'
Other than lifestyle choices, higher education, women's emancipation, delayed marriage, later first-births, desire for work and financial security have all contributed to falling fertility rates in the industrialised world.
Experts agree the state can help would-be parents to juggle work and family but it cannot ultimately determine procreation decisions.
Still, sitting idly by is not an option.
In Laviano, seven babies have been born since the 10,000-euro offer was made. And there are more pregnant women in town.
'It seems to be working,' said a municipal spokesman.
In Rome, Ms Linda Salvati, 23, said she wants four children but not just now. She said she is not ready for marriage and children - and dismissed state aid as 'pitiful'.
The government can only hope that people like her never feel compelled to shelve their baby dreams for good.
With contributions from Tamara Thiessen in Paris, Brian Swint in Berlin and Neo Hui Min in London
France: Bundle of joy comes with state aid
PARIS - Mrs Nicole De Froberville has been on leave for the past six years.
Thanks to France's family-oriented laws and generous child-related benefits offered by the state, she can not only stay home in the city of Tours with her four children, she is also guaranteed her job back if she wants it.
Like many French women, she just loves having children - but even more so with the support of the state.
From her third child onwards, she got 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, an extension of the 16 weeks given to women expecting their first and second children.
On top of that, she has the right to take three years of unpaid 'parental leave' per child and still return to her job.
Parental leave and the option of part-time work were introduced in 1987.
About 40 per cent of the people (85 per cent of them women) make use of this privilege.
For the French government, babies mean future regeneration and revenue.
So the state encourages people to have babies - as many as possible. The amount of aid per child increases from the third child onwards.
The De Frobervilles, whose children range from 18 months to eight years old, get about 1,000 euros (S$2,100) in various types of child-related state aid a month.
In addition, Mr Benoit De Froberville does not pay income tax and gets benefits which cover about half of the rent and 40 per cent of his transport costs.
'Of course, we don't have children to make money,' the banker jokes, 'but the deal is pretty good.'
Among the other child-related benefits he and his wife enjoy: child and family support, parental education aid, payouts for the start of the school year, housing assistance and deals on loans, tax cuts and childcare payments.
More than 45.7 billion euros are handed out to families every year.
Mrs De Froberville believes the 35-hour work week has helped couples even more, allowing the working parent more leisure time with the children.
'It's totally different to a father who only sees his kids in the evening or at the weekends when all he wants to do is rest,' she said. -- Tamara Thiessen
Sweden: Dads get time off to look after baby
MR PETER Norberg, 33, made a bit of history when his first child was born.
'When I told my company I wanted to take seven months off to take care of my son, they said it was a record for fathers,' said the Swede who works for insurance company Skandia in the city of Sundsvall.
Swedish parents get 13 months of leave per child, paid at 80 per cent of wages at a maximum of 24,500 kroners (S$5,600) per month, and three additional months with a nominal sum.
The leave - which can be consumed any time before the child turns eight - can be shared equally between a couple, except for two non-transferable months reserved for each parent. On average, fathers take no more than 15.5 per cent of the leave.
Mr Norberg, however, took a total of seven 'Papa months' after his son Joel was born in 2000.
He requested paternity leave again last year when his daughter Emelie was born.
With a combination of part-time work and five months of being a full- time dad from next month on, he is splitting the 450-day entitlement down the middle with his wife Viveca.
'It's a good time for the father to get to know his children. It's good for me and good for the children,' he said.
While he is losing out in pay increases, he felt it was hardly a sacrifice, compared to bonding with his children at the important early stages of their lives.
'Children are only one to two years old for a short time. It will never come back,' he said.
He is lucky his employer does not object to him taking extended time off. In fact, it gives him 10 per cent of his wages while he stays home though under the law, companies are not obliged to pay for parental leave.
Experts say the greater dedication of fathers in Scandinavia to parenting contributes to their higher fertility rates.
The government wants more involved fathers like Mr Norberg and is considering raising the mandated period of paternity leave.
But the move is unpopular, with complaints of social engineering.
Mr Norberg said: 'It's up to the couple to decide, but maybe it would be good to have a law saying fathers have to be home.
'I think it's also the father's responsibility to participate in childraising.' -- Grace Sung
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