Dr Vinzenz Peters and Christine Schmelting (West German Crafts Council) took part as experts in the public discussion on "Maternity protection for the self-employed" organised by the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Saxon State Parliament at the end of May.
They presented the findings of the study "Self-employed female craftspeople as (expectant) mothers – results of a North Rhine-Westphalia-wide survey": as there are no statutory maternity benefits for the self-employed, many self-employed female craftspeople in North Rhine-Westphalia regularly carry out physical work during pregnancy that is prohibited for employed women. Furthermore, one in four of them returns to work full-time just six weeks after giving birth in order to cushion the financial losses.
