I'll be the first to admit that I'm a low-key anti-natalist. Not because I hate children. Au contraire, because I don't see sense in adding to our population, straining resources, especially when there are a lot of kids looking for homes in our tough-to-survive world anyway. And today's story only strengthens my resolve to not birth a child, especially in India.
India's maternity laws—revised in 2017 to increase maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks—look shiny on paper. After all, we're in third place globally, after Canada and Norway, which give 50 and 44 weeks, respectively. But there's a caveat. In India, companies must provide for these leaves, replacement, resources, creche facilities—the works! The result? Employers are incentivized to not take on women as men come with no such "baggage". The system is designed such. While India's labour force participation has been consistently falling since the 90s—when it peaked at 58.3% participation—to as low as 39.5% in the first quarter of 2022, women's workforce participation has taken a harder blow. From 11% pre-pandemic to 9% today, women aged 16-64 seem to be dropping out of the workforce. Indian women fare worse than virtually all of their neighbouring citizens in countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. So, what's the solution? Should the government share the cost of maternity leave? Should paternity leave be established by law, with no leave carried over to the mother—so both parents take on the responsibility? Can all industries be expected to arrange for these leaves? After all, bootstrapped MSMEs account for 40% of India's workforce.