I had a female boss once. She said the exact same thing about not hiring women because they get pregnant.
I'm a man in the U.S.A. We don't have all of the laws as described in this article (most of us can be fired for any reason at any time). We're on our own. My wife got 4 weeks leave when she gave birth and that was at 50% of her normal income. Then she went back to work (and governments wonder why births are declining).
Anyway, I was shocked that my boss felt that way about women employees and because she was so matter of fact about it. She didn't have children herself and was past child-bearing age. She was very successful (several master degrees and a very wealthy husband). She was one of the best managers I ever had. But basically, she was a woman who would not hire other women.
My message is completely different. I do want women to be able to have a long, paid maternity leave. It makes sense. But my goverment shouldn't kill my business either. Isn't that fair to ask? When I'm doing business, I'm a paying a ton of money, thousand times more than the average guy. It doesn't make sense to further punish me, through killing my business via absurd regulations that don't make sense.
Then you're not making sense. Do you want to be able to fire pregnant women, or do you want to be able to refuse them employment after they return? That would be a horrible thing to do, perhaps it's good that you're not an employer then ;-)
You misunderstand. Taking care of people is not my responsibilty. It's the state's responisbility. That's why we pay all the taxes and social security.
A business - especially a small business - isn't a place for altruism. I just can't afford hiring people to help them get along with their lives. A business is a business, not social welfare itself. It pays for welfare, but it _is_ not welfare.
I stated exactly what I want. I want to be able to decide on my own, who I hire, who I do not hire. It is as simple as this. They CAN create regulations that FORCE me, but then I choose NOT to do business.
I also suggest other means of helping underpriviliged people to obtain jobs. Such as making me pay LESS if I employ them. That would make sense, in business terms too.
This, I find interesting - it would seem to me that gender equality to some extent is in the interest of business. If before, only men would be working and provide for the entire family, nowadays, you can hire both the man and the woman, because otherwise they might not be able to support themselves on a single salary. So you get roughly 2x the labor power of a population, while increasing wage competition, driving wages down.
I'm a man in the U.S.A. We don't have all of the laws as described in this article (most of us can be fired for any reason at any time). We're on our own. My wife got 4 weeks leave when she gave birth and that was at 50% of her normal income. Then she went back to work (and governments wonder why births are declining).
Anyway, I was shocked that my boss felt that way about women employees and because she was so matter of fact about it. She didn't have children herself and was past child-bearing age. She was very successful (several master degrees and a very wealthy husband). She was one of the best managers I ever had. But basically, she was a woman who would not hire other women.