On April 4, 2023, Georgian-language user “Irakli Zakareishvili” wrote on Facebook that a draft law is being considered in Germany, which, if approved, would entail replacing the word “mother” with “parent/person giving birth.” On April 5, Facebook user Ermile Nemsadze published a post, according to which state channels in Germany banned the term “mother,” replacing it with “person giving birth.” According to the post, Germany’s Minister of Family Affairs stated that “the person giving birth or her partner is entitled to two weeks’ leave in case of childbirth”. The post is accompanied by a screenshot of an article from the German publication Bild.
The claim that the replacement of the word “mother” with the term “person giving birth” is considered at the legislative level in Germany and that the German media banned the word “mother” is false. The term “person giving birth” was used by the news service of the German public broadcaster Tagesschau; however, the said term does not appear directly in the draft law, nor does it refer to the replacement of the word “mother.” The term “Person giving birth” was soon replaced by the word “mother” in the article of Tagesschau itself.
The Bild article discusses the material prepared by Tagesschau, the news service of the German public broadcaster АRD. Тagesshau used the term “person giving birth” instead of the word “mother” in the material prepared on the new draft law on 2-week paid leave for the second parent after the child’s birth. ARD had exclusive access to the draft law. However, it should be noted that the term “person giving birth” does not appear in the draft law and it was used directly by Тagesschau. The news service commented on this to Bild. Bild also contacted the Federal Ministry of Family, Elderly, Women’s and Youth Affairs. In a comment to the publication, the representative of the ministry noted that the term “person giving birth” does not appear in the draft law, and the draft law provides for a paid leave of 10 working days for a woman’s partner after giving birth. It should be noted that later Tagesschau replaced the term “person giving birth” with the word “mother” in the article. Information about this is provided both in the Bild article and directly in the editor’s note at the end of Tagesschau’s article.
Editor’s note stressed that the use of the term “person giving birth” caused confusion among readers, and the news service later replaced it with “mother.”
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What does the new bill entail?
According to Tagesschau, the new bill was initiated by the Minister of Family, Elderly, Women and Youth Affairs, Lisa Paus. According to the bill, after the birth of a child, a woman’s partner will be able to take ten working days of paid leave. The bill does not entail replacing the word “mother” with another term. According to the bill, the change should make it possible for parents to better divide their responsibilities. It should be noted that the draft law will also apply to single parents. A single parent will be able to name a person from his immediate family instead of the other parent who will help take care of the child, and he will be able to be released from work for two weeks. Within the framework of the draft law, the employer will be reimbursed by the insurance company for the amount paid to the employee during the two-week leave after the birth of the child.
Notably, paid maternity leave for women in Germany is 6 weeks before childbirth and 8 weeks after childbirth. In addition, in Germany, both parents can take a total of three years of unpaid maternity leave. When using unpaid maternity leave, parents can apply for state aid. Unpaid maternity leave can be used by parents to care for their own biological child, wife/husband/partner’s biological child, step-child, adopted child.
About the Source
Ermile Nemsadze is a former military and a member of the far-right “Georgian March”. He is infamous for homophobic, hateful and anti-Western messages. Disinformation disseminated by Ermile Nemsadze on various topics was verified by “Myth Detector” in the past as well.
Irakli Zakareishvili is a lawyer by profession. False and manipulative claims spread by Zakareishvili have been repeatedly fact-checked by “Myth Detector.”
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