Family week continues here at The Useless Tree. Today, thanks to this article in the WaPo, we take a look at France, where they seem to have institutionalized the Confucian desire to "cherish the young:"
France heavily subsidizes children and families from pregnancy to young adulthood with liberal maternity leaves and part-time work laws for women. The government also covers some child-care costs of toddlers up to 3 years old and offers free child-care centers from age 3 to kindergarten, in addition to tax breaks and discounts on transportation, cultural events and shopping.
The use of material incentive to encourage young people to have children may seem a bit crass; the Venerable Sage would certainly look down on it. But, given the realities of modern work, as illustrated in the chart two posts down, there has to be some sort of monetary relief to support the expansion of time given over to child care. It sure beats a lot of other uses of public money.
The effects of this policy are not only economic and social, however. They are also cultural. That is, by giving so much public support to child care, the French state is saying "this is a top priority for us." And that has a broader cultural effect of increasing the social and symbolic value of mothering and fathering.
The French system also fosters different attitudes about working mothers. French working moms say they feel far less guilt than friends in the United States or Europe because French society recognizes children are well cared-for while mothers are at work.
Now there's a radical idea: society recognizes that children should be well cared-for and puts up the resources to do it. Radical, at least, when compared to the sorry state of child care in the US.
There's only one thing a modern Confucian can say: Vive la France!
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