Sixty percent of parents want to take 15 weeks of maternity leave

As of 1 August 2022, parents may take fifteen weeks of birth leave. Sixty percent of parents plan to be free for the entire fifteen weeks after the birth of their child. Forty percent take part of the leave or not at all.

This is apparent from a survey of the Nine Months Fair, held among 400 people.

Leave of absence

One of the reasons that candidates gave for not taking the leave is because they have their own business or are self-employed. They cannot make use of this arrangement. Another reason mentioned is that employers will pay only part of the leave.

care tasks

Once the little ones are born, the care responsibilities are shared equally between the partners. Six years ago this was much less the case, so that is a positive development. The fact that more fathers want to take leave now that they have the opportunity to do so is also a positive turning point. In 27 percent of the participants, both partners continue to work equally after the birth. Still, 45 percent of women expect to work less after the leave. For fathers this is a lot lower, namely twelve percent.

Preferences

Although a delivery can never be completely predicted and it is very difficult to prepare for 100 percent, the participants in the study do have clear preferences. 56 percent of women would like to forgo pain relief during childbirth altogether. More than three quarters of women would prefer to give birth in hospital, with their partner present. Another fun fact: only seven percent want their own mother to give birth. And the mother-in-law? No one is waiting for that…

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