- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 September 2000 01.43 BST
This week, there have been many encouraging sounds from Brighton of a commitment to "livability" issues. With a strong economy, we can afford to highlight in the next election the question of how to make ourselves happier - with rounded, fulfilled lives as Cherie Booth described it on Monday's fringe meeting.
The most exacting test of this new commitment will be in November when Stephen Byers publishes his ministerial review on maternity provision. Mr Byers has to arbitrate between two New Labour constituencies: business and women. The fear is that business will win out and women will get some cheap tokenism: Mr Byers's promise, reported in our pages today, to extend maternity provision to those women who are paid too little to qualify currently is not sufficient. As long as proper consultation and preparation time is allowed for, the business lobby cannot be allowed to fight off maternity rights which are widely accepted across the rest of Europe.
What is needed is radical reform. First, paid maternity leave should be extended from six weeks to 18 on 90% of pay. Second, scrap the incomprehensible dual system of maternity pay and maternity allowance which causes confusion among women and employers alike, and scrap qualifying periods; all women are entitled to the same rights as a recognition of the stake we all have in their children. (Forget the irrelevant argument about means-testing; they number no more than a tiny 2% - a mere 9,000 women.)
Finally, Mr Byers needs an ambitious long-term plan which will be flexible enough to reflect that families are diversifying in different ways to share breadwinning and caring roles. Men need paid parental leave if they are to share childcare. As a first step, the manifesto should offer two weeks paid paternity leave. Mr Byers's review can do more to support the fraying fabric of family life than any number of speeches on marriage. It is no coincidence that Britain has the longest working hours and the highest divorce rate in Europe. This is not a women's issue: it affects every family and every child in the country.
