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Absolutely Jan.
You should have mixed feelings because it is so very different for everyone. What the current system attempts to do ( and that will never be perfect) is to allow people to have families without it financially devastating them and allow women to pursue careers. It is not going to suit every employer, but ultimately the statutory is from the taxpayer and I think that we can safely assume that if a woman is entitled to maternity pay, she IS a taxpayer.
The sort of reforms, that we are constantly seeing is one that promotes the idea that no one should have to pay unless they get out - a fairly dangerous outlook. It's no different to saying "Well my house hasn't flooded so how dare Mr Cameron pledge my taxes to those who live in low lying counties, it's their own fault." Applied to maternity, we are saying "Why should we pay just because a woman wants a career, I'm not even a woman". I would dearly love to believe that everyone in our society could be truly autonomous, but in a world of increasing complexity, anyone that believes this is deluded.
It would be great for everyone if things were simpler but external influences and choices by our supposed leaders make simplicity very hard to achieve. For example the model you present in your first paragraph is one I truly support, but one that is almost impossible. House prices alone make this a very different era. When my parents got their mortgage on our 3 bed terraced family home (where they still live), the lender would only consider my fathers wage, but then the cost of the house was proportionally less compared to his wage. I live in a house about the same size and it took both our wages to secure the mortgage.
When my first child was born 10 years ago, I had just changed career, starting on well below the average national wage. My partner stopped working to be at home; we had no car, no holidays. I also restructured my house at the time to provide another bedroom for the baby because we weren't in a position to move. The structure of things has changed and modernity provides other strains as a result. It was fine, but tough at times.
Things like not having a car seem simple to suggest but the reality is hard ( this sort of thing goes right over Iain Duncan Smith's head). To get food at a reasonable price you have to travel, Saturday morning was a 2-3 mile walk with a pushchair, rain or shine. Towns do not function the same way as they did, family dynamics are different, houses and renting areexpensive and the roles of males and females are continually evolving.
We have to ask how we can facilitate families in our society, not just make it the concern of those directly affected. The reductionist policies being churned out by politicians of all colours, only continues to demonstrate their limitations.