Luck smiled on Renate and Ilyas from The Hague at the beginning of this year: their first child together was on the way. They form a blended family: Renate has two sons (6 and 10) from a previous relationship, Ilyas has a son of 7. “And now we wanted to have a child of ours together.”
‘Elijah had nails on his fingers’
But Elijah was born after a pregnancy of 21 weeks. Unfortunately too early. His lungs were not yet developed enough. The loss is heavy: “It is of course very sad. I just gave birth to a son in the hospital. A lot of people don’t understand that. They think it was a miscarriage. But it was a person, with nails on his fingers and hair on his head.”
Fortunately, the goodbye was beautiful. Professional photos have been taken. Elijah wore a beautiful outfit, made from wedding dresses and donated by a foundation. “Fortunately, we were well guided.”
emotional storm
Renate, who is an independent copywriter in daily life and advises companies on communication, wanted to take a rest period. “My body went through a pregnancy and childbirth. I lost a liter of blood. You have to recover from that. Not to mention the emotional storm you are going through.”
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The ZEZ scheme would offer a solution, or so she thought. ZEZ stands for Self-employed and Pregnant and is roughly the self-employed version of maternity leave. Since 2008, self-employed persons have been eligible for this benefit, which is equal to a maximum of the minimum wage.
Clap your face
But then she came across a wall on the UWV website: she had been 21 weeks pregnant, so the application was not processed in advance. The legal minimum is 24 weeks.
“A huge slap in the face,” Renate says. “The last thing you want is to have to deal with money in that storm. In addition, it makes us feel like they think Elijah hasn’t been there at all. As if he doesn’t count, like a child of 24 weeks or older does count. “
Elijah was human, that feels good
Nowadays children can be declared at the registry office of the municipality. They did. “A consolation. It proves: Elijah was human. That feels good.”
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Circumstances now force Renate to resume work sooner than she would like. Because the family relies for a large part on its income. “The costs continue. We have a house to buy. Three children. I want to mourn. I want to recover, physically and emotionally. But I don’t get the time for that in this way. I have to get back to work.”
Recognizable story
Renate shared her story on her LinkedIn page. Since then, her mail has “exploded” and she has already received more than 20,000 private messages. “All kinds of people, including CEOs of large companies, let me know that they find my story recognizable. Women who suffered from it later. Many men too, who write that they went through the same thing, sometimes twenty years ago, and that they still think about it every day. That’s a heart under the belt.”
Femke Zeven also did not miss the cry from the heart. She is a lawyer and general manager at Bureau Clara Wichmann, an organization that works to improve the legal position of women. “It was discussed this morning in our app group of lawyers,” she says. “We will discuss further how to pay attention to this. We have already paid attention to it before.”
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This example shows once again that the legal position of pregnant self-employed entrepreneurs leaves something to be desired, says Zeven. “We also saw it with corona schemes such as Tozo and NOW, which helped self-employed people in times of corona. If you were pregnant in the previous period, and you had not worked a certain number of hours as a result, you were fishing behind the net. A punishment for being pregnant. That has to change. If you are pregnant and vulnerable, your legal position must be solid and not shaky as it is now.”
Outrageously expensive insurance
The ‘how’ is difficult, however, explains employment law teacher at the University of Amsterdam Marlies Vegter. “If you are in paid employment, you can call in sick. This way your income is protected. An entrepreneur has to arrange this himself by taking out disability insurance. The problem is that it is outrageously expensive. This is why very few self-employed people have this insurance . I also thought it was too expensive.”
Vegter finds it understandable from a practical point of view that the government has to draw the line somewhere. “You also don’t want a situation where an authority comes to look at your child to determine which category you fall into.”
Practical solution
According to the lawyer, the solution lies in a good, generally applicable rule: “The most practical solution is compulsory disability insurance for the self-employed, provided it is made affordable. That is not the case now. You could think of a graduated scale in the premium, whereby which depends on your income.”
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Renate herself has meanwhile understood, through the mountains of reactions, that her situation is more common than she thought. “I am happy that my story touches so many people. That does us good. It gives me the feeling that Elijah is being thought of. Someone has even started a crowdfunding campaign for me: mourning period for Renate. Very sweet, right? If that yields something , we will definitely donate to the Floor de Lis foundation, which made the package for Elijah.”
Positive attitude
“Unfortunately, she has not seen the human face of the government,” she says. “But all the more from the people in the Netherlands. I hope that a discussion will start and it will help other families in this situation.”
And now? “I’m going back to work. I will do that with passion. The hope of raising a child of ours has not suddenly disappeared. Ilyas and I are positive people, so who knows what the future will bring.”
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