Podemos calls for maternity and paternity leave to rise to 24 weeks

SPAIN'S social rights minister Ione Belarra wants to increase maternity and paternity leave to 24 weeks, or just short of six calendar months, and has announced the party she leads, Podemos, intends to negotiate with its socialist coalition partners.

At present, women and men who become parents, including through adoption, are entitled to 100% of their salary paid by the State if they are employed – less if they are self-employed; in region of €600 a month – for 16 weeks, which can be taken either concurrently where there are two parents, of either gender, involved, or one follow another.

Maternity and paternity leave cannot be transferred to the other parent.

Extending parental leave to 24 weeks would bring Spain closer to other European countries – at least in the case of maternity leave, which tends to be longer.

In the UK, dads only get two weeks, but mums receive State maternity pay for 39 weeks and can then legally have up to another 13 weeks' unpaid leave on top, with their jobs held open for them; they are obliged by law to have at least two weeks' maternity leave or four if they work in factories, after which they are allowed to transfer the rest to the other parent.

In France, the number of children dictates how long mothers get – six weeks before the birth and 10 weeks after it for a first or second child and eight weeks before and 18 weeks after for a third or subsequent child; for twins, 12 weeks prior to birth and 22 weeks after it, and the pre-birth leave doubles for triplets or more.

So far, Spain leads the field for paternity leave – in France, dads get up to 25 days including weekends, or three-and-a-half weeks, rising to 32 days for multiple births, but the standard allowance is only two weeks; in Portugal, they have 30 days which are taken at the end of the mother's 120 consecutive days or can be transferred to her.

Here, up to 30 extra days can be added on, or 15 days for each parent, plus an additional 30 days for multiple births; women are required by law to take a minimum of 42 days, and men can have a total of up to five weeks.

Mums in Italy have two months off pre-birth and three months after, and both maternity and paternity leave is obligatory.

European countries where maternity leave is longer than Spain's current 16 weeks are Finland (17), Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Denmark, Cyprus (18), Luxembourg, Estonia, Poland (20), Hungary (24), the Czech Republic, Croatia (28), Slovakia (34), the Republic of Ireland (42), and Bulgaria (58).

Those which equal Spain's 16 weeks are Latvia and Austria, whilst the only countries with less time off for new mums are Slovenia and Belgium, at 15 weeks.

Although less generous with maternity leave at present – and this does not start until the very day of the birth, albeit in practice, mums-to-be will probably be signed off sick once they become so heavily pregnant they are unable to work or it becomes unsafe for them or their unborn child to do so – Spain currently offers more paternity leave than most other European countries.

This ranges from two weeks in the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, France, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Estonia and Denmark to one week in The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Italy, Malta, Romania and Hungary; nine days in Latvia; four weeks in Lithuania and Slovenia, five weeks in Portugal, and the most generous other than Spain, Finland at nine weeks.

In Spain, paternity and maternity leave cannot be transferred to the other parent, but a recent court case, which may set a precedent, found that single mothers should be allowed to take both maternity and paternity leave, since otherwise their children were automatically at a disadvantage by only having a parent at home for half the length of time as those in two-parent families.