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Rajya Sabha Clears Maternity Act: Women to get 26-Week Leave

The Maternity Benefit Act was first passed on 12th December 1961. It was meant to ensure that the employment of working mothers was regulated both before and after childbirth as well as provide maternity, medical and several other benefits. The maximum period during which any woman was entitled to maternity benefits was set at twelve weeks. The bill passed on 11th August 2016 at Rajya Sabha seeks to increase the maternity leave to twenty-six weeks for working women in the private and public sector. Before it can formally become a law, it will need to be voted through by the Lok Sabha and then gain the assent of the president. The recommended maternity leave length by the International Labour Organization (ILO) is 18 weeks with a minimum length of 14 weeks. Currently, there are just over 40 countries with maternity leaves over the recommended length and India may soon join their ranks. It is expected that this increase will place India in third place behind Norway and Canada which leads globally at 50 weeks.

The previous bill did not make provisions for commissioning mothers (those who use surrogate mothers) and adopting mothers. A 2013 report written by the International Labour Organization ranks India at 11th from the bottom out of 131 countries in terms of a number of females constituting the labour force. The global percentage of working women has fallen from 42% in 2005-2006 to 38.6% in 2011-2012. In India, the percentage of working females was 31% in 2004 and 24% in 2011. This reduction in a number of working women may lead to disastrous losses for a country’s productivity and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The economy also grows at a slower and inefficient rate. Passing this bill will lead to increased job security for women in India.

For children to grow optimally and develop both emotionally and psychologically, maternal care is a requirement in the early stages. In India where mothers are entirely responsible for this stage of development, there isn’t much flexibility when it comes to working while rearing a child. Some employers set rigid working hours and don’t provide facilities where children can be cared for while the mother works. Maternity benefits aren’t provided for the women in some cases where it is legally required. Rather than taking it to a court of law, a lot of women choose to quit their jobs and become stay-at-home mothers.

The maternity leaves for working mothers will be raised from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. If the mother has two or more children, they get 12 weeks maternity leave. The Bill also benefits women who use surrogate mothers and women who adopt a baby who is less than three months old. These women get 12 weeks. Nursing mothers get the option of working from home if the type of work done allows it. This is not mandatory and depends on an agreement between the employer and the mother. All establishments where the number of workers exceeds 50 will be required by law to provide a day care facility. Over 1.8 million employed women are expected to benefit from the passage of this bill.

Tags: maternal care, maternity act, maternity leaves for working women, maternity leaves in India