By Sunidhi Gupta
Abstract
Parental leave policies including maternity or paternity leaves are not gender-neutral worldwide. The provisions of each country on parental leaves depend on several factors including length, income replacement rate, and the number of days for which the leave is compulsory. This article studies data from the 16th International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research (2020) and the report and policy brief ‘Maternity and Paternity at Work’ published by the International Labor Organization. The data study includes the various developments from the late 20th century to the early 21st century that have come in terms of parental leave policies and what can be the most effective way in which parental leaves aid towards the typical stereotypes that exist concerning gender and parenting in society
Gender equality is an ideal situation and value which is tried to be enshrined and accommodated in almost all spheres of society. This also includes its mention in major human rights instruments as well as sustainable development goals. One of the main ideas that are addressed in the sustainable development goal is to give equal recognition to the unpaid domestic work carried out on a daily basis in the household by including these in public service infrastructure, social protection policies, and promoting shared responsibility of the household. This is more important for establishing gender equality because there is a pay gap that exists between men and women due to the low involvement of the latter in paid jobs. But there is data that also illustrates that women take up the responsibility for most of the unpaid work like domestic work, childcare, or being responsible for taking care of people vulnerable due to health or age. All this is a result of the gender norms or ‘contracts’ set up by society and family. This is where regulations and policies come into play because they are imperative in dealing with the issue of gender equality in society. But, when legislation is noticed, most of them are not gender-neutral. Rather they hinder the objective of promoting gender equality. This article aims at understanding such legislation on parental leaves which instead of catering to the idea of gender equality, widened the gap between males and females by such statutory provisions which imperatively bifurcated the work of a man and woman in parenting. All these points would be supported by reports of international organizations as well as well-researched articles written by academic scholars.
When parental leaves are discussed, it is essential that the different types of parental leaves are understood. Firstly, there are maternity leaves that are only for mothers and this legally allows all working women to pursue their careers after childbirth. Then there are paternity leaves which are exclusively for the fathers and this is the most recent feat that has been achieved in terms of provisions. It is a step towards gender equality by evolving the role of a father in parenting and breaking the stereotype of mothers as the primary caregivers. Finally, if parental leave is referred to, it can be used by either of the parents or both the parents together, even in an extended manner. But if data from international organizations is studied, the history of the International Labor Organization shows that there have always been concerns to preserve the health of women and the newborns. They try to promote the equal treatment of women and men at work and that the reproductive function of the women should not lead to their unequal treatment. For the same, the ILO adopted three maternity protection Conventions in the years 1919, 1952, and 2000 which give protection measures for pregnant women and women who had recently given birth against any health and safety hazards and safeguard the right of a woman to return to work after her maternity period as well as the maternity leave itself. These conventions directly or indirectly also support other workers with family responsibility which includes the father as well. The standards that the ILO gives in their conventions mandate a maternity leave of at least 14 weeks which has been increased from the previous standards which were 12 weeks. There have been recommendations to increase the maternity leave to 18 weeks as well. In the case of paternity leaves, there are no standards that are given by the International Labor Organization. However, at the International Labour Conference held in 2009, in a Resolutions related to gender equality, it was recognized that the work-family balance relevant measures involved both men and women. The data collected by the ILO also states that from 1994 to 2013, the countries which have introduced provisions for maternity leaves have not reduced the duration of leaves. In fact, in 1994, 38% of the countries provided 14 weeks of maternity leave but by 2013, out of the same set of countries, 51% started to provide maternity leave of 14 weeks. In the case of paternal leaves, there have been requests made to the government, through the Resolution, that proper policies be made and included in the governance system which evolves the work-family balance and the inclusion of paternity and parental leaves in the same which offers incentives to the men as well. Usually, the paternity leaves offered are for a short period of time which vary, and are generally for two weeks, which is immediately after childbirth in order to take care of the child and assist the mother in the most exhausting and critical time period. But there are only five countries according to the data of ILO which offer a paternity leave of more than two weeks and these are Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Portugal, and Slovenia.
The length of leave given to a mother plays a critical role because if the leave is too short it may lead the mothermothers to leave work as the time is inadequate to join back at work. If the leave is too long with no job security, it can have a negative impact on a woman’s career, especially in paid jobs where there can be wage penalties. But before the length of the leave is discussed, it is important to know if the existing provisions on parental leaves are implemented properly. It is different to have a law on maternity or paternity leave and if they are providing any kind of benefit to the one for whom they are made and the disparity depends upon the implementation and enforcement of the law. According to the data given by International Labor Organization, there are almost 40.6% of women employees who have a statutory right to maternity leave, but out of those only 34.4% are the total who are legally secure to get the cash benefits mandatorily. There is a large population of women with unprotected jobs. There are women in specific categories of work cultures in several countries who do not get paid maternity leave. These include self-employed women, domestic workers, agricultural workers, non-standard workers as well as women working in small and medium-sized enterprises. Quoting this, it is not that there has been no positive change in the legislation towards maternity leaves. On the contrary, the countries are providing protection to unprotected women workers and one example is that 54 countries have covered domestic workers under maternity leave legislation in accordance with Article 14 of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention of 2011. Along similar lines, other women workers have been protected through legislation in line with ILO Conventions. However, this is not enough as there are a substantial number of women working in the informal sector and lack of access to maternity protection is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Addressing issues related to paternity leave is equally necessary. Studies show that if the father is involved with the child in the immediate weeks after childbirth, they tend to be more involved in their child’s childhood and garner a positive shift in the role of both parents in parenting and evolution in terms of gender equality at home and work. While, in the case of maternity leaves legislation existed and implementation required more attention, for paternity leaves the formulation of a proper legislative policy is also important. The paternity leaves should be granted exclusively to the father and this idea stems from the fact that sometimes there are provisions for shared parental leaves and in those cases, the mothers tend to take most of the leaves available. So, it is important that exclusive leaves are given to the father because it also sends a message of a social shift of values and equalization of the task of parenting. Therefore, it is important that the legislation relevant to paternity leave has features like non-transferability, full income compensation, and compulsory nature.
To conclude, parental leaves, may it be of the mother or father, are meant for the well-being and health of the child and to emphasize the work-home balance of working parents encouraging a sort of gender equality in the parenting process. Proper statutory legislation with exclusivity and equal importance is givengiven to the father is one step towards creating a favourablefavorable environment for the promotion of gender equality and also helps in fighting against the social and financial norms which hinder the caregiving function of the father.
About the Author
Sunidhi Gupta is a Student of Jindal Global Law School in the third year of BA. LLB (Hons.)
Image Source: https://leman.ie/parental-leave-entitlements-on-the-rise/
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