In the UN survey, 42 countries exceed a recommendation of 19 weeks including Vietnam (26 weeks), Venezuela (26 weeks), and Slovakia (34 weeks). The UK offers 39 weeks of paid leave for new mothers.
Finland's parental leave package covers the child's first year. Parents are also entitled to paid childcare leave after the end of parental leave if they decide not to use day care. This enables parents to look after a child under the age of 3 without giving up their jobs.
No wonder it is the best place in the world to be a mother according to the last Save the Children annual State of the World's Mothers report.
Interesting to note also that Finland has one of the lowest child poverty rates in the EU, while the female employment rate is among the highest, according to a recent European Union report.
In the last New Zealand election, opposition parties had policies to increase parental leave to 26 weeks. The Government argued it was unaffordable.
This paper's editorials have noted in the past the irony of the Government heavily funding childcare, but not parental leave so that parents could actually stay at home with their children.
Our Government pays huge childcare subsidies to early childhood education providers that get funded by the Ministry of Education per child. So we have, in my view, the ironic situation of a government funding a stranger to look after a 4-month-old baby while mum has to return to work.
The Working for Families tax credits and childcare subsidies, a legacy of the last Labour Government, benefit some working parents but penalise others who don't meet the income criteria and who are crippled by high childcare and after school care fees.
And while mum and baby are apart, and the working mum might not even be better off financially anyway, the childcare industry is booming.
The number of childcare centres and kindergartens in the Western Bay has nearly doubled in the past nine years. In last week's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, Michele Hunter reported that centres are juggling large waiting lists and parents reserving places for their unborn children.
Centres spoken to said a lot of their clients were stay-at-home mums who enrolled their children for 20 hours' funded childcare to allow them to socialise with other children.
Is it right that taxpayer money is going toward non-working mothers getting 20 hours' free childcare so that their children can stack blocks with other kids?
If government funding of private business was directed to families rather than the childcare industry, parental leave could be affordable.
Until then, women are at the mercy of an employer for that all-important work-life balance.
This week Vodafone broke new ground in New Zealand with its new maternity policy allowing employees expecting children a month's extra leave.
Under the policy, primary caregivers employed by Vodafone and who return to work for the company within 12 months of the child being born will receive full pay for a 30-hour week for the first six months. Vodafone boss Russell Stanners said under the policy he estimated a working parent could save about $1800 in childcare in their first six months back and be able to spend an additional 240 hours with their child.
It makes sense as employers benefit too by attracting and retaining female employees. Dave Burnett, Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive, said Vodafone's new policy was "pretty impressive" and could ensure a company got their talent back, which is vital in areas with skill shortages.
Vodafone can be commended for creating a policy that values and retains working mums.
