Maternity leave up to 4 times, paternity leave recommended

The Women’s Affairs Reform Commission recommended granting women with six-month maternity leaves up to four times in special circumstances, including stillbirth, death of child and second marriage, as well as allowing two-week paternity leave for working men at all private and government organisations.

The commission also recommended these leaves in cases of child adoption.

As per the government service rules part -1, a working woman is allowed to enjoy maternity leaves with full salary twice for giving birth to babies.

The Reform Commission submitted its final report to Chief Adviser Professor Muhmmad Yunus on Saturday.

The report made a total of 433 recommendations, grouped under 15 thematic areas and categorised into three groups.

The first phase includes the tasks to be done during the interim government; next phases will be during the next elected government and the third phase will be on the basis of aspirations and dreams of the long women movement.

The report titled “Identifying steps toward eliminating discrimination against women at all levels and in all sectors and achieving gender equality” includes a section on “To-Do list for the next elected government.”

It recommends that in special circumstances—such as stillbirth, the death of a child, or having a child in a second marriage—maternity leave should be relaxed up to four times for women working in government, private, and commercial institutions. It also proposes that leave provisions should be introduced for adopted children. Additionally, it recommends that a law be enacted to grant two weeks of a paternity leave on full pay.

The cabinet issued a gazette on 18 November last year forming the 10-member Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, headed by Shireen Parveen Huq, a founding member of Naripokkho.

Other members of the commission are Maheen Sultan, senior fellow at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development; Fawzia Karim Firoze, senior Supreme Court lawyer and president of the Foundation for Law and Development; Kalpana Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation; Halida Hanum Akhter, women’s health expert; Sumaiya Islam, executive director of Bangladesh Nari Sramik Kendra; Nirupa Dewan, former member of the National Human Rights Commission; Kamrun Nahar, director of Naripokkho; Ferdousi Sultana, gender and social development expert and former senior social development adviser at the Asian Development Bank; and Nishita Zaman, a student representative.

Regarding the recommendation on maternity leave up to four times, Fauzia Moslem, president of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, told Prothom Alo that the reasons for granting maternity leave up to four times can be considered on a humanitarian ground.

She commented that six months of maternity leave and two weeks of paternity leave should be made mandatory.

Maternity leave was extended to six months from the previous four months by amending the government service rules on 9 January 2011. As per the rule, a woman can avail maternity leave twice. However, six months maternity leave is available only to government job holders.

Some non-government offices extend maternity leave for six months, but many do not allow more than four months of leave. Maternity leave is 120 days in the RMG sector.

Maternity leave is 112 days for women labourers in the existing Labour Law, 2006. Labour and women rights activists have long been advocating for extending this leave to six months.

The owners never paid any heed to this demand. Upon discussion with labour organisations and owners in February this year, the government increased the leave to 120 days.

However, a member of the Labour Reform Commission said they were trying to extend the maternity leave to six months. The owners have agreed to grant four months of leave with pay and two more months of leave without pay. The commission, however, is going to propose that either the government or any labour welfare organisation would pay the salary of those two months. The commission is supposed to submit its report to the Chief Adviser on Monday.

The member of the commission said they also proposed paternity leave without mentioning any time.  The commission did not propose relaxing maternity leave for four times.

Meanwhile, the women’s affairs reform commission in its report proposed ensuring legal safeguard of adopted children.

The commission suggested a reform in Guardians and Wards Act, 890 and a separate law which will give adopted children every right a biological child is entitled.

Apart from this, it has been said that adoption benefits should be included in the labour so that the parents who adopted children could enjoy maternity and paternity leaves and benefits.

The report further said that the Labour Act-2006 and the amended Labour Act-2013 should be further amended to ensure six months’ mandatory full-pay maternity, childbirth and adoption leaves in all sectors.

The word “maternity welfare” should be replaced with “maternity rights” in the labour law.

Prohibition of dismissal from jobs during maternity leave and other necessary facilities should be included. Paternity leave should also be included.

It has been recommended to include prohibition of dismissal from jobs during pregnancy and postpartum leave and other necessary facilities.

Speaking about the recommendations, the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission member and Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation president, Kalpana Akter, said that it has been recommended to make six months’ maternity leave mandatory in all organisations taking into consideration the health of women and the well-being of the newborn baby.

Nowadays, the number of single and small families has increased. The mother will be taken care of during the postpartum period if the father gets leave. This will reduce health risks of the new mother.

If a child is adopted, both the parents’ leave is equally important for taking care of that child, she pointed out.

Speaking about the recommendation to relax maternity leave, Kalpana Akter further said, if a mother has a stillborn child, or if the child dies, the woman’s leave is deducted from the scheduled days of maternity leave.

Similarly, if a woman with a child marries for the second time, she also faces complications regarding maternity leave.

Considering all these, it has been recommended to relax maternity leave up to four times in special cases.