For fathers to spend with their children: Finland will give the same maternity leave to parents

Marin's government, which says Finland still has a way to achieve gender equality, has announced a 14-month pension allowance plan, giving 164 days off to each parent. This is in order to strengthen the relationship between them and the children. Other European countries have introduced similar reforms

For fathers to spend with their children: Finland will give the same maternity leave to parents

(In the video: 34-year-old Sana Marin was elected by her party's prime minister last December)

The Finnish government has announced a plan to give all parents the same number of days off, with the aim of making fathers spend more time with their children. The combined allowance will increase to 14 months, which is 164 days per parent.

Finland said that the country wanted to "promote welfare and gender equality". Health and Welfare Minister Aino-Case Pekonen announced the beginning of a "radical reform of family benefits", designed to strengthen the relationship between parents and their children from the beginning. The government estimates that the changes will cost another hundred million euros.

Finland's Prime Minister Sana Marin said last month that her country still had a way to achieve gender equality, complaining that too few fathers were spending time with their children. Under the current system in Finland, maternity leave is about four and a half months, while fathers are only given two and a half months until the child is two years old. In addition, you can share another six months' maternity leave. However, only one in four fathers on average takes advantage of what they deserve.

The current plan now speaks only of joint leave. Each parent will receive a 6.6-month vacation (164 days under the six-day benefit system in Finland) and pregnant women will receive an additional monthly allowance. Parents will be allowed to transfer 69 days from their quota. Single parents will also be allowed to use both allowances.

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"Promoting Welfare and Gender Equality." Prime Minister Marin (Photo: Reuters)

Finnish Prime Minister Sana Marin at the World Welfare Forum. February 07, 2020. (Photo: Reuters)

Anne Lisa Ellingster, a professor at the University of Oslo who researched the field of maternity leave, told the BBC that the Nordic countries have led the way in granting maternity leave entitlement to fathers, which cannot be transferred to the mother. The EU has also gone in the same direction, with a directive giving Member States three years to provide each parent with at least four months' leave, including two months that cannot be transferred to the mother.

In Sweden, the most generous maternity leave system in Europe will change with 240 days for each postpartum parent. In comparison, Portugal already has a gender neutral system, with 120 days paid at 100% of wages and another 30 days optional at 80% of wages.

Prof. Ellingsatter said that granting rights to fathers was not a complete success in the Nordic countries. "Norway was the first country in 1993 to give fathers a non-transferable leave and then Sweden followed suit," he said. In contrast, fathers in Denmark receive only two weeks' leave after birth, and the mother and father can share another 32 weeks between them.

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Fathers in Denmark only get two weeks off after birth. Minister of Health and Social Services (Photo: Reuters)

Finland's Minister of Health and Welfare, Aino-Case Pekonen, at a press conference in Helsinki. February 07, 2020. (Photo: Reuters)

Since last December, Finland has been run by a coalition of five parties, each headed by a woman. Marin said it was "not so great" in Finnish terms to have women in power. Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Portugal were praised in a UNICEF report last year for offering the best family policy.