Much ado about parenthood incentives

Every few years when the gov decides to introduce a slew of measures to boost fertility rate, there would be much griping from singles on how they are being discriminated and how they are overlooked by the government. Then it would proceed into a free-for-all parents and pregnancy bashing campaign.

For a few nights in a row, this has kept me awake. It was triggered by Sumiko Tan's article lamenting about the injustice of any parenthood measures and the onslaught of forum reply supporting her cause. I was kept awake because I was mentally drafting a letter to her... but I never got round to doing it yet so I'm having my discourse here.

In ST's article and the many forum letters that followed, many lamented about the inconvenience that parents and pregnancy posed to them... e.g. pregnant women had to go for check ups, then they are off to 3 months of maternity, leaving the colleagues to cover the duties and parents had to take children to see docs etc. My question is.. how often does a woman get pregnant in her working life? 1, 2 maybe 3 times in the entire career. That's 36 weeks. Now, how many times does a man go on reservist in his entire career? He would have to go for reservist EVERY YEAR for a stretch of 2-3 weeks. At times, reservist calling in twice a year (like one of my colleague). You do the Math. And if you have an unfit colleague, there is also RT which sees him knocking off at 4 pm. Who covers for them? I'm sure the load is shared, regardless if you are pregnant or parents. And what more, the 2 years of NS is compensated in pay. I'm sure the pain, literary, that women go through for childbirth is no lesser than what men went through for NS. And the opportunity cost is just as high. You don't hear parents heave a hue and cry about this.

And I absolutely disagree with what many said that pregnancy affects work quality. What absolute rubbish. I find myself working harder and longer because I feel the need to prove that I'm just as effective and productive pregnant or not. In fact, I work even faster and make sure I complete my projects, knowing that I'll be away for maternity leave. Maybe a small percentage might take advantage of their condition... but that's not restricted to pregnancy... bad work ethics is not caused by pregnancy!

The singles who wrote also lamented that they can't take leave during the hols because the leave is 'reserved' for parents. REALLY! Singles have 10 months in which they can clear their leave anytime! And they want t gripe about parents who can only take leave during the school hols... and do they really want to pay the peak season charges and face the crowd of tourists during those period??? I think not. Unlike singles, parents can't go for long stretch holidays anyway; singles can CHOOSE to take 3 weeks and scoot off in a flash. Parents need to plan, way in advance, pay more, book early and face the crowd. Come on, a little give and take?

The singles also lamented that they too have parents to feed and therefore need more tax rebates like parents. Doesn't that then make married parents have a double whammy? They too have their own parents, plus the children, sometimes plus the spouse's parents, siblings and others. Unlike singles who needs only to be responsible for themselves and their parents, married parents often have more dependents. Yes, singles are contributing to society... but so are working mothers. The gov policies are sound. They support those who work.

In any case, it is NOT that the gov favours and values parents or devalues singles... It is a pragmatic choice to support parenthood. The nation needs to replace itself to sustain a growing economy. So the gov needs to have more babies now because 20-30 years down the road, they will be the ones to grow the economy. By then, taxes is likely to go up because it would then need to support the mass of singles and childless marrieds who are probably past their economic viable years. So it is a pragmatic choice. It doesn't make economic sense to rebate the singles now because it will not help the economy in the long run.

So for the singles who kick up a fuss and cry foul, bear in mind of the future hands that will feed Singapore and don't bite the hands that will feed you.