madam president a well-known businessman once said equality legislation taken too far actually reduces the chances of women gaining employment
businesses are not allowed to ask a woman if she is going to have a baby so it is easy they just do not employ her
and that unfortunately is the grim reality of compulsory full pay maternity leave in this report
couple this with the economic effect on smes in the uk two point six billion germany eur one point seven billion and this report is positively dangerous in today's economic climate
however if the maternity clause were removed what a difference that would make
the report would focus on its original mandate that of the health and safety of pregnant workers and those who have recently given birth
i ask my colleagues in the committee on women's rights and gender equality to get back to basics and do what is right for women
women need to have choices
they need to have the tools to make these choices
employers need to be able to support women without it meaning they are no longer economically viable
member states need to strengthen their economies too thereby creating opportunities
the ecr has put forward an amendment which deals with many of the issues created by the full pay compulsory leave clause and i would ask my colleagues to support this amendment and make this report workable
the eu is not here to create social engineering with its policies
the idea that paid maternity leave will encourage women to have children is naive
children are for life
the cost is for life
so please do not tell me that we will increase the population by giving twenty weeks fully paid maternity leave
there are a lot of weaknesses in this report
the impact assessment the ecr requested has proved this
the question now is whether we strengthen it at this stage or send it back to the drawing board
