Danish entrepreneurs fall through maternity pay system with little or no support

Two self-employed women in Denmark are receiving almost nothing in maternity pay after falling through the cracks of a system that cannot handle mixed income sources, DR reports. One will receive zero income when she gives birth in August; the other is receiving just 126 Danish kroner per week after recently giving birth.

Christel Thue Høghsted, based in Copenhagen, lost her supplementary salaried job when she was nine weeks pregnant. The loss exposed a gap in the system: because she has both a company registration number and a wage employment history, the public support system does not recognise her as entitled to any maternity benefit at all.

“I am not entitled to any help whatsoever from the public system,” she says. She adds that the situation is so bleak it is preventing her from looking forward to the birth. “I am not preparing at all, because other things are taking up all the space.”

Several hundred kilometres away on the island of Strynø, Cecilie Beck Gordon gave birth to her second child five weeks ago and is receiving 126 kroner per week in maternity benefit. Her benefit was calculated solely on the profit from her business in 2024, even though she also held salaried employment that same year. That income does not count.

“It is completely incomprehensible that in Denmark you can fall through the system in this way,” she says. “People say they want more female entrepreneurs in Denmark and more children. Then you simply have to make rules that fit the circumstances that come with that.”

Despite having paid taxes like any other worker, Cecilie says she has no choice but to continue working during what should be her maternity leave. “I sit here in my office breastfeeding, spending as much time as I can looking him in the eyes and being present. But yes, I have to work.”

Borrowing from family to get by

Both women have been forced to borrow money from family and friends to cover their costs during the period after giving birth. Cecilie’s family took a loan from her parents to cover the first month. Christel, who is accustomed to being financially independent, describes borrowing money as something she finds deeply uncomfortable.

Both say the situation is neither sustainable nor fair, and both point to Sweden as a model worth following. “I think you should create an entirely new system and look towards Sweden, where maternity support is treated as family and equality policy,” says Christel. “There, all women have the right to financial support from the state when they choose to give birth to a child.”

Cecilie says she has received sympathy from politicians, but adds that sympathy alone does not pay the bills.