National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An proposed to increase maternity allowance for female workers when giving birth, and male workers whose wives give birth.
(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, the Draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) is stipulating that the maternity allowance for female workers when giving birth and male workers whose wives give birth is 2 million VND for 1 newborn child.
SHORTENING THE GAP OF SOCIAL INSURANCE BENEFITS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN
Speaking at the discussion, National Assembly Deputy Hoang Thi Thu Hien - Permanent Vice President of Nghe An Provincial Women's Union, expressed her agreement with the Draft Law on Social Insurance Amendment, which has added many important contents in the direction of flexibility, multi-layer, modernity and integration, expanding coverage; at the same time, she added more opinions related to gender mainstreaming in the draft law.
First of all, referring to the gender gap in social insurance benefits, the delegate from Nghe An cited data showing that at age 65, only 16% of women receive pensions; while men are 27.3%. At age 80, women are 6.9%, while men are 25.9%. The pension value of men is 19.8% higher than that of women. Men's monthly salary is 30% higher than that of women in 2019.
“In recent years, this gap has been increasing, and this gap cannot be self-corrected. Although in the early stages of entering the labor market, women's participation in social insurance is quite good, reaching 58% at the age of 26,” delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien analyzed and added: “This proves that women are interested in the social insurance system early.”
According to delegates, the gender gap in social insurance benefits is growing because many women withdraw their insurance during pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 69% of women withdraw their social insurance at one time under the age of 35. This is a gender difference because women perform the role of pregnancy and childbirth; along with that, 2/3 of women are responsible for taking care of their families, children, the elderly, and the sick - unpaid work. This reality forces many women to choose to withdraw from the social insurance system.
Meanwhile, through the study of gender impact assessment of the report on integrating gender equality issues in the Draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) on issues such as: Social pension benefits; expanding the subjects participating in compulsory social insurance; adding maternity benefits to voluntary social insurance policies; reducing the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions... shows that, in addition to the policy of adding maternity benefits for voluntary social insurance of 2 million VND, all other policies are balanced between men and women.
Therefore, the Permanent Vice President of the Nghe An Women's Union suggested that there should be different policies to create conditions to support women to fill the gaps caused by gender differences, in order to shorten the gap in social insurance benefits between women and men.
"I propose that the drafting agency continue to research and propose solutions to integrate gender in a practical and effective way in the draft law," said the delegate from Nghe An.
BUILDING A MULTI-LEVEL MATERNITY SCHEME
On the other hand, maternity leave, one of the five earliest policies implemented in the social insurance policy system in our country, has a strong humanitarian meaning and Vietnam is considered by the world to be a country with a generous maternity leave policy in the region in terms of leave time and benefit rate.
However, through studying the Draft Law on Social Insurance (amended), delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien said that more appropriate regulations are needed.
"Currently, the voluntary social insurance regime is not really attractive, adding a suitable maternity regime is also a necessary condition to attract workers of working age to participate," said delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien.
Accordingly, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency consider raising the maternity allowance, because the current draft law stipulates that female workers who give birth and male workers whose wives give birth are entitled to 2 million VND for each newborn child, which is no longer appropriate. In addition, in addition to cash support, the drafting agency should consider adding health care and regular prenatal checkups to the maternity allowance support policy.
Along with that, the delegate of Nghe An delegation requested the drafting agency to study and develop a multi-layered maternity regime, supplement maternity allowances for poor and disabled women, and move towards covering maternity allowances for all women.
Because currently only about 30% of female workers in the compulsory social insurance system are entitled to this regime; this means that the majority of self-employed women do not have access to this type of insurance, and many women are not even eligible for any type of insurance, so the burden increases when they give birth.
“Faced with increased expenses from childbirth and no additional income due to job interruptions, many women have to return to work early, affecting their health and childcare,” the delegate from Nghe An worried.
Meanwhile, according to Convention 183 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), maternity leave should be applied to all women including those working in informal conditions.
Furthermore, the 2006 Law on Gender Equality stipulates: The State's policy on gender equality protects and supports mothers during pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing.
