Members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Tuesday urged the candidates in the Jan. 11 presidential election to promise a reform of the nation’s childcare policies, saying that “throwing money” at the problems faced by parents would not solve them.
Awakening Foundation general secretary Chou Yu-hsuan (周于萱) said that the childcare policies proposed so far have “only mentioned giving money, giving subsidies.
“However, we all know that throwing money at the problem alone is useless,” she said. “For parents, money is certainly very important, but the first problem [parents] face is where to send their children.”
There are not enough public daycare facilities, while the cost of private preschools and daycare is typically “three times or more” that of public facilities, she said.
Family-friendly workplaces and better social policies are “more important” to parents, she added.
Government childcare subsidies “never catch up” with rising costs, Chou said.
“As a result, the problem does not get solved,” she said.
Although under the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法) men are allowed five days of paid paternity leave, they are not entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments, Birth Empowerment Alliance of Taiwan head Chen Shu-ting (諶淑婷) said.
Men are “often at a loss” when their partner is giving birth, she said, adding that giving them paid time off for antenatal appointments would allow them to be more involved in the process.
Workers in private-sector companies should, like government employees, be entitled to up to seven days of paid family-care leave per year, she added.
It is “not very difficult” to amend the law to give workers seven days of paid family-care leave, Awakening Foundation director of policy Chyn Yu-rung (覃玉蓉) said.
Whoever is elected should promise to make this change immediately after winning the election, Chyn said.
“What has our government, no matter who was in power, done in the past 20 years?” former Public Television Service Foundation Enterprise Union president Wang Yen-chieh (王燕杰) said.
The government’s response to any problem has been to “hand out money,” Wang said, adding that the response has been the same whether the issue was childcare or work-related injuries involving police officers and firefighters.
The government should do more than just hand out money, he said, adding that it only brings short-term benefits.
Handing out money as a solution to all of the nation’s problems should end with this election, he added.
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