Parental leave of 24 weeks – Geneva becomes a laboratory for parental leave – News


Contents

Rejected in Berne, accepted in Geneva. This shows that a moderate proposal for parental leave definitely has a chance politically.

The introduction of parental leave of 24 weeks in the canton of Geneva is a Swiss premiere – no other canton has ever had such extensive parental leave.

The clear approval of the Green Liberals’ initiative of around 58 percent is mainly due to the fact that it was a moderate proposal, as SRF Romandie correspondent Valérie Wacker explains.

In Geneva it was about an additional six weeks

In fact, the Geneva parental leave, with a total of 24 weeks, goes much less far than similar proposals that were rejected at the weekend in the canton of Bern – where a motion called for 40 weeks of parental leave – and some time ago in the canton of Zurich.

Time soon for Swiss-wide parental leave?


open box
close the box

The political scientist Michelle Beyeler also speaks of a “moderate” model that has now won a majority in Geneva. “In addition, in Geneva, approval for proposals that deal with the compatibility of family and work is generally very high.” It’s different in the canton of Berne: “There it’s fundamentally more difficult for family policy proposals,” says Beyeler. In addition, the SP proposal in Bern probably went too far. “Geneva is now becoming a bit of a laboratory to see how the 24 weeks of parental leave work,” believes the political scientist.

Beyeler assumes that a Geneva solution could possibly achieve a political majority across Switzerland in a few years. At the moment, however, she does not see a majority for parental leave that applies throughout Switzerland – the cultural and socio-political attitudes of people in the various cantons and regions are too great. “In rural cantons, there is sometimes a very large rejection,” says Beyeler. In contrast, approval in the cities is usually significantly higher.

In Geneva, six weeks are now added to the 16 weeks of maternity leave for the mother and the two weeks of paternity leave that apply throughout Switzerland, which in turn can be divided according to a specific key.

All family models should benefit

The text of the initiative stipulates that six weeks must go to the other parent who does not have maternity insurance – for example to the father.

Two weeks would be divided according to the parents’ wishes: the mother could thus extend her maternity leave by two weeks or the other parent could extend their six weeks by two.

All family models should benefit from the total of 24 weeks of parental leave, including same-sex couples and adoptive parents.

The additional parental leave in Geneva is to be financed in equal parts by contributions from employees and employers. The social deductions are likely to increase by 0.05 percent.

Bourgeois for, left against

Amazing: The proposal came from the Green Liberals and was approved by a large majority of the bourgeois parties, only the SVP was against it.

The left-wing parties and the unions rejected the proposal. They pushed for more ambitious parental leave of at least 34 weeks. They also feared that mothers with the model might end up having less than the 16 weeks of maternity leave that is now in force.

The Geneva State Council (government) will now set about making the constitutional amendment more concrete. One thing is clear: Geneva is becoming a pioneer when it comes to parental leave.

source site-72