Maternity and paternity leave reform could raise birthrate

The Shanghai Municipal Women's Federation has come up with a proposal that could encourage couples to have two kids. It has suggested to the Shanghai municipal people's congress and people's political consultative conference to extend the existing 138-day maternity leave to half a year and urge fathers of newborns to take at least 30 days of paternity leave.

After the 2015 family planning policy reform allowing all couples to have two children, Shanghai's fertility rate saw a brief rise before declining sharply. A worried federation conducted a survey to find out the reasons. On interviewing families, federation officials zeroed in on three reasons couples didn't want to have two children－heavy economic strain, difficulty in raising children, and discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers in the job market.

More than 43.8 percent of the respondents said they don't want to have a second child because their families were short of hands to raise children. In particular, women said raising children took up a lot of their time and thus affected their career prospects.

This phenomenon is not unique to Shanghai. The story is much the same across China thanks to the rising aging population and a declining newborn population. Even after the family planning policy reform, not too many couples are willing to have two children.

Thanks to social progress and women's ever-increasing education levels, more and more women are focusing on their careers and therefore are reluctant to have a second child. This may be a sign of gender equality but the equality does not extend to homes. The major responsibility for household work and raising a child is still shouldered by women. As such, many women don't want to have a second child, with some not wanting even one child.

The Shanghai Municipal Women's Federation's proposal is a positive one and can help stem the declining fertility rate. Providing women longer leave to take care of their newborns and requiring men to participate in the process could reduce the burden on new mothers and help increase the birthrate.