German lawmaker Dorothee Baer plans to go back to work eight weeks after the birth of her third child at the end of the minimum maternity leave, as she did for her first two children.
But that has not stopped the 34-year-old conservative vociferously speaking out in favor of a proposed new benefit system which, she says, would help parents raise their children according to their own values and circumstances.
The hot-button payment would see parents who do not send their under-three-year-olds to a state-sponsored nursery receive 100 euros ($132) a month from next year, increasing to 150 euros from 2014.
"We want equal opportunities and complete freedom of choice. Because, as a state, we are currently subsidizing every nursery place with 1,000 euros, we give the impression that this is the preferred model," she told AFP.
"I don't think this is how it should be. Families have very different ways of organizing childcare and we should support every one of them, not just one,"
she said.
The centre-right government is divided over the proposal by Baer's Christian Social Union (CSU), a coalition partner, and has sparked heated debate in Germany, which even has a word -- Rabenmutter -- for a bad mother.
At a time when Germany is demanding euro-saving austerity measures and budgetary rigor from its European partners, the proposal would cost around 1.2 billion euros per year, according to the Spiegel news weekly.
Opponents deride the proposed benefit, dubbed "Herdpraemie", or literally "oven bonus" suggesting a reward for mothers to stay home and cook for their offspring, as misguided and out-dated.
They argue it could lead to more children being stuck in front of the TV, or tempt foreign parents to keep their children at home when they would especially benefit from learning German early at nursery.
Mum-of-five Maya Ammouri from Berlin said she would not claim the benefit, preferring to send her children to nursery early for the stimulus they cannot always get at home with a busy parent.
"I find it stupid that they are spending money on this. There's something wrong, they should really put the money into the nurseries," the 42-year-old who runs a restaurant said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed the payment, citing the need for fairness, but some of her political allies remain unconvinced.
"There's great resistance (in Merkel's own CDU party) because it goes against current modern positions on education and working women," Nils Diederich, a political scientist at the Otto Suhr Institute, said.
"It's very reactionary," he said, pointing to 2013 elections in the predominantly Roman Catholic southern state of Bavaria where the CSU is based.
Concerned by its rapidly ageing population, Germany has been trying since
2005 to lift its low birth rate with paid parental leave in a child's first year and improved childcare facilities.
But education expert Anette Stein, of the Bertelsmann Foundation, said studies showed that financial advantages played no part in people deciding to have children.
"And in any case, 150 euros a month is too little to raise a child," she said.
Dieter Hundt, president of the Organization of German Employers'
Associations, said it was a "wrong step" for education, employment and financial policy which will hinder a mother's quick return to the job market.
According to a recent poll, 60 percent of Germans agree.
But Baer said she had never received so much positive feedback acknowledging that it was a "very emotional" topic.
"So, whatever you say, there will always be a woman that feels as if she was criticized for the decision she took," she added. (AFP)
<관련 한글 기사>
獨, 가정주부에게 ‘월급’ 주는 법안 제기
낮은 출산율을 끌어올리기 위해 독일에서 새롭게 논의 중인 아동 수당 정책을 두고 실효성에 관한 논쟁이 격렬하다.
기독민주당(CDU)이 제안한 이번 정책이 시행된다면 3세 이하의 자녀를 유치원에 보내지 않는 부모는 2013년부터 매달 100유로(약 15만 원)씩을 받을 수 있으며 2014 년부터는 150유로를 받을 수 있게 된다.
8주간의 출산휴가를 마치고 일터로 복귀할 계획인 의원 도로시 베어(38) 의원은 "가족은 각자 다른 양육의 방식을 가지고 있고 국가는 이 가운데 어느 한 쪽만 지원 하는 것이 아니라 모두 지원해야 한다"며 새로운 수당 지급을 찬성했다.
그녀는 "현재 국가는 모든 유치원에 1천 유로의 보조금을 지급하고 있다"며 "우 리는 양육방법에 대한 동등한 기회와 선택의 완전한 자유를 원한다"고 덧붙였다.
이번에 제안된 정책안에 대해서 반론도 만만치 않다.
앙겔라 메르켈 총리는 제안된 아동 수당 정책에 지지를 표했지만 같은 정당에 속해 있는 기민당 의원 20여 명은 '오븐 보너스(Herdpraemie)'라고 불리는 이번 정책과 관련된 법률 제정에 반대할 방침이다.
이들은 제안된 정책이 시대에 뒤떨어진 가정에 불필요하게 보조금을 지급하고 출산율을 높이는데도 효과가 없다고 주장하고 있다.
또한 유럽의 여러 나라로부터 재정감축을 요구받는 독일정부는 이번 아동 보조금 지급 정책을 시행한다면 1년에 12억 유로씩을 추가로 지출해야 한다.
5명의 아이를 키우며 식당을 운영하는 마야 암무리(42)는 이번 정책에 반대한다 고 말하며 "일찍 유치원에 다니는 어린이들은 바쁜 부모들과 함께 있는 가정에서 얻을 수 없는 자극을 받을 수 있다"고 주장했다. 교육 전문가 아네트 스테인은 사람들 이 아이를 갖게 하는 데 재정적 지원은 큰 힘을 발휘하지 못한다고 지적하며 "150유로는 아이를 키우는데 너무 적은 돈이다"고 덧붙였다.
