Oh Baby!

The big birth rate debate is upon us once again and policy makers have looked abroad to their Swedish cousins for inspiration. What’s stopping the stork from taking roost and can new measures fix Singapore’s baby dearth?

BY CHERYL SHEN

Justina Soewarso knows how fortunate she is. After delivering her first child Elias, the Singaporean – who is married to a Swede – is enjoying a year’s maternity leave, including a two-and-a-half month visit back to Singapore. “It’s thanks to the Swedish policies that we can take a nice long holiday, and for Elias to spend some time with his grandmother and cousins,” said Justina, 35, who lives in Sweden with her husband Jan Sundström.

Generous Swedish policies include 480 days of shared parental leave over eight years. Out of these 480 days, 80 per cent of the parent’s salary is paid for by the Government, so parents can juggle time off according to their economic advantage.

Hence if Dad makes more money, he might take more parental leave and care for baby while mum works part time. In Jan’s case, he took over four months of parental leave to be with his family and first-born son.

It underscores the idea that parenting is a shared responsibility, said the Sundströms. Another key policy of the Swedes – which has been successful in helping mothers juggle family and career – is that its government foots about two-thirds of childcare costs.

“It’s recognition that a child is a long-term investment and parents need support for much more than one year,” said Jan.

No wonder then that these measures have boosted Sweden’s fertility rate from 1.5 children per woman in 1999 to 1.71 in 2003. Last year, it hit 1.88.

Although this is still below the ideal replacement rate of 2.1, it’s still one of the highest in Europe.

Singapore and the Stork

Taking up the issue in July, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew cited the “Swedish way” as an example of how a revamp of procreation policies here might take shape. At his National Day Rally speech in August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a slew of enhancements costing some $1.6 billion aimed at improving the support at the various stages of parenthood (see sidebar on Page 11). The most prominent of all is four months of maternity leave – up from three months – that will take effect from 17 August, following protests from mothers-to-be who cried foul over the original kick-in date of January next year. These changes come as the total fertility rate here languishes at 1.29, way below the replacement rate of 2.1 despite years of concerted effort to shore up baby rates. Singapore’s baby woes started to be apparent in 1975 when the rate dropped below the replacement level for the first time after the popular “Stop at Two” campaign in 1972. But the slide continued despite a reversal on policies and the “Have Three If You Can Afford It” campaign of 1987 – hitting a record low of 1.26 in 2003. The next year, the maternity leave was upped from 8 to 12 weeks, with the government footing the extra four weeks. The baby bonus too was improved, giving parents $3,000 for the first and second child and $6,000 for the third and fourth child.

Mother-of-two Genevieve Kwek set up her own PR firm so that she could have a better work-life balance.

Agreeing, Keith Tan, 29, said no government incentive would compel him and his fiancée to have children. “Even if there is a penalty, I would pay it,” he said, “If someone is not keen or ready to be a parent, do you really want to ‘force’ them to be one?” Marriage and having a family boil down to personal decision, he added.

The complex confluence of factors – conflicting priorities, personal choice, work pressures and other societal issues, means the solutions must be just as multi-faceted, said Genevieve Kwek, 36, a mother of two. “It’s a mix of many variables,” she said, adding that while baby bonuses, maternity leave, and tax incentives are good, they must also be met with support from society and employers, as well as a pro-family environment.

The Road Ahead

Addressing the disappointment among some that the new policies simply built on existing policies and were not as radical as expected, Mdm Halimah said it achieved a happy balance, as the cost of generous family policies in countries like Sweden come at the expense of tax payers.

What is more important, she said, is that it gives women choices, allowing them to have their careers and a family. Previously, it was all or nothing, she noted, “If you cannot cope, then you quit your job to be a mum. Or if you care for your job then you sacrifice parenthood.”

But the package could also have been “more generous”, with more incentives for flexible work hours, and do more for homemakers, she acknowledged. “It would have been good to give mothers who are not working some cash incentives and recognise the sacrifices that they have made,” she said.

The success of any procreation drive, however, depends on a society’s values.

Said Genevieve: “The whole society – government, employers and people – must be open to creating an environment that is pro-family. We must reassess our pursuit of excellence-at-all-costs mindset. We have to question what really matters to us as individuals and as a society.”

Workplace Woes

One major societal problem, she pointed out, is the workplace. While singles cite long work hours and the pressures to put work before family, mothers face even greater pressures. Genevieve herself had wanted to continue part-time working arrangements after the birth of her first child, but her former employer was cool to the idea. She quit, and now runs her own public relations firm. “It gives me more flexibility to spend time with my family.”   The government’s commitment to foot the bill of an extra four weeks of maternity leave has been welcomed as a significant move. But even now, some mums on maternity leave have fears over job security. Said Genevieve, “Some mums are discriminated against, passed over for promotions and feel pressured to stay late at work.”

Singaporean Justina Soewarso, who is married to Swede Jan Sundström, is enjoying a year’s maternity leave after delivering Elias in Sweden.

It has come to a stage that media reports have highlighted how some women do not take the full 12 weeks of maternity leave, preferring to take no-pay leave instead.

In 2007, 72 pregnant women complained to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) of being unfairly dismissed because they were expecting. The good news is that it’s a drop from 85 in 2006 and 78 in 2005 – but the problem is real and it’s evident that companies, especially smaller ones, feel the pinch more when it comes to their female staff taking time off to have kids, Mr Tan Soo Jin, director of Amrop Hever Group told ST.

Having kids may also slow a mother’s climb up the corporate ladder. Ms Whang Soo Ann, 29, told ST, “With three months’ maternity leave, morning sickness and numerous medical certificates, a mum will be less productive than a peer who is free of the above.”

Top sales manager Ms Lau Li Nah was six months pregnant when she was sacked. She told ST that she believed it was because the company did not want to foot the maternity leave bill.

MNCs too can be guilty of discrimination. In another case, 34-year old Ms Ngian Hui Chyi, who was a personal assistant at an MNC, had her job replaced, despite reassurances by her company, while she was on away on maternity leave.

But thanks to recently announced policies, firms who retrench them in the last three months of their pregnancy, or dismiss them unfairly in the last six months, will still have to pay maternity leave benefits.

MP Halimah Yacob, deputy secretary general of NTUC, who has long been advocating improved workplace protection for expectant mothers, was “very pleased” with the extension. She told Singapore : “Previously the law only covers unfair dismissal in the last three months. It’s not right.”

But an ST report found that many of the 20 SMEs and prominent business groups polled were worried that the extension on maternity leave would add to rising business costs.

“You find someone, train that person up and then have to make the decision whether this person has to go or stay when the pregnant employee returns,” Mr Sean Teo, founder of Transmex Systems, told ST.

This underscores the need for more than just mere policies, said Mdm Hailimah, who stressed the need for society to see maternity leave “not as an exception but as a norm.”

Already, some enlightened employers are embracing pro-family policies to good ends. At UBS Singapore, employees get $300 for each newborn child and the primary care-giver in the family gets 15 weeks of paid parental leave, said ST. These measures have built a loyal workforce with staff turnover ratio of 10 per cent – below the industry average.

For SP Consulting International – an SME with eight employees – telecommuting has been a core strategy. In addition, the consultancy converted some office space into a family room so staff could bring their children to work. Within a year, it saw a 12 per cent jump in quota-based revenue generation.

Bringing up Baby 2008:

More Leave and Protection

• Maternity leave has been extended to 16 weeks, up from 12 weeks. The last eight weeks can be taken flexibly till the child turns one.
• Each parent will enjoy six days of paid childcare leave, up from two days a year, till their child turns six. Either parent can also enjoy unpaid infant care leave of six days a year for children under two years old.
• Pregnant women can get maternity benefits if they are dismissed without sufficient cause within the last six months of pregnancy. Previously, they could seek redress only if they were fired in the last three months. In addition, those retrenched in the last three months of her pregnancy can also claim maternity benefits.

A Better Baby Bonus

• The cash gift for babies will go up to $4,000 for the first two children, up from $3,000. The cash gift remains at $6,000 for the third and fourth kid.

Tax Breaks

• Parents can claim $4,000, instead of $2,000 in relief for children under 16.
• The tax relief for a handicapped child has also gone up to $5,500, up from $3,500.
• Working mums can also claim 15 per cent for first child (up from 5 per cent), 20 per cent for second child (up from 15 per cent) and 25 per cent for third child and any subsequent children. Parents can claim a total of $50,000 for each child per year, twice the amount previously.

Improving IVF grants

• In a major turnaround, the Government will co-fund half of invitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment at public hospitals (capped at $3,000 and three fresh cycles of Assisted Reproduction Technology procedures