Belarus leads the world in gender equality

Gender polemics in Western countries are akin to ritual. It must certainly be carried out, but few people worry about its practical value. The voices of feminists are getting louder, the quota for the percentage of Mrs. and Frau in top management is getting higher and higher. Only impartial statistics neutralise the pathetic rhetoric of politicians and public figures. The further west you go, the more modest the real results of the struggle for women’s rights. The proportion of American, German, Belgian and Polish women in leadership positions is still not as significant as reports of victory over gender prejudice would like to believe. However, no matter how trivial it may be, the root of the problem lies in the economic plane. In fact, it turns out that gender equality is a costly thing. Unlike Belarus, where women’s rights are protected by strong social standards, in Western countries they prefer to save on this expense item.

Barriers to a career

  According to the latest UN data, paradoxical as it may seem, a very modest percentage of European women leaders is not just anywhere, but in the very heart of the EU — in Germany. Less than 30 percent of senior management positions are occupied by women. For comparison, Belarus is ahead by 18 percentage points in this indicator. According to experts at DIW, the German Institute for Economic Research, the main barrier to women’s careers is underemployment. Of the total number of full-time employees, representatives of the fair sex make up only about a third. German analysts are, of course, concerned that, given the catastrophic shortage of personnel, the country’s labour resources are being used so inefficiently. However, despite numerous declarations about the notorious gender equality, in reality bright slogans work more at the level of ‘everyone pays their own bill at the beerhouse’. But, let’s say, the path to becoming a manager of large German concerns is closed. After all, part-time, employers reason quite logically, you won’t be able to do your best. German society is actually much more conservative than it seems and is in no hurry to change. It can hardly be said that the well-known principle Kinder, Küche, Kirche [children, kitchen, church in German] which expresses the essence of women’s lot in the time of William II, is forgotten. It would seem that the times when it was traditionally believed that the main occupation of German women was ‘inconspicuous housework’ have sunk into oblivion. However, the legislative innovations of the subsequent century did not really level out the situation. Despite the fact that gender equality is proclaimed in the German Constitution, the balance between work and family in Germany has not yet been established. And it’s not about national traditions. German women dream of professional self-realisation on an equal basis with men, as evidenced by statistics. More than half of the total number of university diploma holders are women. German girls obviously do not receive higher education in order to keep the kitchen in order. Gender imbalance is primarily the result of state social policy. And it is clearly not facing the woman and the family. 

Between family and work

By law, a German mother is entitled to paid parental leave of just eight months. Why it is so short-lived is explained by the payment structure. Some of them come from the employer’s funds. After this period, parents raising children cannot count on benefits. Not many families can afford a ‘free’ maternity leave. Therefore, most mothers are forced to choose part-time work. And then for years they cannot solve the dilemma of how to torn between family and work.
Kindergartens are in short supply in Germany. In some cases, you have to wait for a place for years. Nurseries ‘fill’ the needs of only 20 percent of families with children under three years of age. There is a shorter queue for older groups. However, troubles await German parents here too: on the doors of many preschool institutions, as early as three o’clock in the afternoon, or even earlier, you can see a ‘Closed’ sign. If there are two or more children in a family, the mother gets ‘stuck’ in a schedule imposed by imperfect social infrastructure for many years, actually sacrificing herself for the sake of the family.
The issue of paying for preschool institutions is a separate issue. There is no single ‘kindergarten’ tariff in Germany. The price depends on the share of participation in financing the needs of preschool children of the state. Each federal state has its own amount of state support. Somewhere above, somewhere below. In some cases, the cost for parents reaches up to €800 per month. A decent amount, which cannot be said about the list of services included in it. Often, kindergarten students are only entitled to lunch. Children bring their own breakfast. Many parents are outraged by the discrepancy between the level of payment and the quality of services. But, as they say, there are no options.

Here and there

By the way, in the United States, where the gender issue has long set the teeth on edge even among the most ardent feminists, the state’s participation in ensuring ‘gender equality’ is completely minimalist. The most ascetic approach to supporting families with children today is demonstrated by six small island states in the Pacific Ocean and the United States. The birth of a child in the United States is not considered a good enough reason to provide long-term paid leave. The maximum that the law allows one of the new parents is 12 weeks without pay.
At the federal level, this issue is left to labour market players. Mothers of newborns can count on financial support only if the employer has the good will. Is it any wonder that only a fifth of American women who need it have the opportunity to go on at least a short maternity leave? The authorities of some states are trying to influence the situation. For example, in California, the mother of a baby has the right to take six weeks of paid leave. For America, this is undoubtedly progressed, given that in other states the level of social ‘advancement’ borders on medieval.
There is no need to talk about the availability of American kindergartens at all. Prices for attending preschool institutions are astronomical — up to more than a thousand dollars. The standard time for a child to stay in kindergarten is from 09:00 to 15:00. For services ‘above the norm’ there is a double tariff. There’s nothing you can do about it: business. It is quite natural that with such a pragmatic approach to ‘children’s’ problems, the childfree philosophy is becoming more and more widespread in the States. On the demographic issue, the federal authorities, of course, can rely on migrants. But they are even more unable to withstand the financial pressure of the American service sector.
The International Labour Organisation, in its Maternity Protection Convention, recommends that women who become mothers be provided with at least 14 weeks of paid leave. In half of the world’s countries this recommendation is not implemented, but in Belarus this figure is exceeded many times over. The state guarantees financial support for families with children.
Our country is one of the few that provides fully paid three years of parental leave, regardless of family income and payment of insurance premiums. But state ‘guardianship’ does not end there. A family capital programme is being implemented. A system of state support for large families during the construction and reconstruction of housing has been built. The state bears significant costs for maintaining preschool children in kindergartens, school meals, medical care, health care and leisure for children, thereby easing the burden on parents. Therefore, it is quite natural that in international rankings of ‘gender’ achievements, Belarus is invariably ahead of many Western countries.
Belarusians are widely represented both in company management and in government. In short, they can afford to realise their professional potential without compromising their family.

By Tatiana Shchedrenok