Maternity Leave: African Women Fight Not Alone Anymore - July 2010
African women are not alone anymore in their fight for maternity leave. Men begin to push for paternity benefits.
By Tawanda Kanhema
Very early into South African chain store worker Anna Chitsuwi's
pregnancy, she was forced to take a polygraph test along with other
employees as part of an internal investigation. When her employer found
out that she was pregnant and could not take the test due to possible
interference from her baby's heartbeat, he accused her of getting
pregnant to avoid the polygraph test and all went downhill afterwards.
When
the time came for Chitsuwi to seek maternity leave, she found out that
her employer would not pay her, and turned to the Unemployment
Insurance Fund (UIF), which in turn told her that it would pay her
because she is a foreigner, although she was working legally in South
Africa.
"Faced by the fact that I was not going to be paid
whilst on my four months of maternity leave I was forced to stay at
work until the baby was almost full term, which was risky," she said,
adding "I was also forced to go back to work early since I needed the
money. That means I had less time with my child."
Chitsuwi is a
Zimbabwean immigrant, but said her South African friends do not have it
any better when it comes to maternity protection in the workplace,
especially single mothers, some of whom have ended up in despair and
resorted to abortion after failing to secure maternity benefits from
their employers or the fathers of their babies.
A combination of low wages, failure by employers to comply with labour regulations stipulating
the benefits employees are entitled to and complications in the process
of obtaining maternity benefits from government funded programmes has
led to many women either losing their jobs after giving birth or
risking their health to retain their jobs.
While significant
strides have been made in pushing policy changes to strengthen
maternity protection for women, some countries continue to drag their
feet.
A recent survey by the International Labour
Organization's Conditions of Work and Employment Programme found out
that although there had been major improvements in the past 15 years
since the last review in 1994, there is a pressing need to strengthen
maternity protection.
In an internal review of the ILO's
efforts published last week, Manuela Tomei, Director of
ILO's Conditions of Work and Employment Programme said
despite noticeable improvements in maternity protection laws, as states
become more aware of the importance of maternity protection for both
gender equality at work and the health of newborn babies and their
mothers, problems still exist.
"We found that all 167
countries monitored by the new “ILO Database of Conditions of Work and
Employment Laws” have national legislation on Maternity Protection,"
Tomei said, adding, "63 ILO member States have adopted at least one of
the three ILO maternity protection conventions and 30 per cent fully
meet the provisions of Convention No.183, the most recent one."
Although
high, considering where they were at the last review in 1994, the level
of compliance among governments is low by proportion, and this means
tough times for women like Chitsuwi, most of whom have little recourse
against powerful corporations and are not covered by government funded
maternity relief programmes.
Government involvement crucial
The
survey found that some ILO member states were moving away from imposing
the burden of maternity protection solely on the shoulders of employers
as governments become more involved through the provision of funding
for working women and the self-employed.
"We noticed a shift
away from the systems relying entirely on employer responsibility. By
2009, half of the countries financed benefits solely through their
social security systems or public funds in order to relieve employers,"
said Tomei,
"A share of 17 per cent relied on a mix of
payments by employers and social security, while in one-fourth (26 per
cent) of the countries payment is still covered entirely by the
employer with no public or social security support. These changes are
encouraging as they reflect progress towards the kinds of legal
provisions called for in ILO Convention No. 183."
Among the
major challenges preventing comprehensive maternity protection is the
lack of coverage in some countries for domestic workers and women in
the agricultural industry. Only 54 if the 167 ILO member states
currently provide maternity coverage for women employed as domestic
workers.
Reforms lead to longer maternity periods.
Tomei
said the ILO had noticed a shift towards longer leave periods at the
time of childbirth among the more progressive member states, with a 10
percent increase in the number of countries that offer maternity leave
of at least 14 weeks since the last review in 1994.
"Whilst in
1994, 38 per cent of the countries offered at least 14 weeks of
maternity leave, the number rose up to 48 per cent in 2009," Tomei said.
Industrialized
economies, mostly in the European Union and countries in the Middle
East have recorded the highest increases in the length of maternity
leave over the past 15 years.
The ILO's Convention 183 (2000)
recommends that expecting women get free medical care, be protected
from harmful work during pregnancy or while breastfeeding and be
entitled to maternity leave of at least 14 weeks. Under Convention 183,
expecting women are entitled to income of at least two thirds of their
preceding salary, but most employers and governments are still paying
just half.
Men join the queue for paternity benefits
In
some countries like Norway and Mongolia, reforms including men seem to
have strengthened the case for maternity protection, as men raise their
voices in demand for paternity benefits and other provisions aimed at
bridging the gap between family and work often created by the arrival
of a new baby. Maternity protection had traditionally been considered
to be a preserve for women in the workplace.
The the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the largest and most
influential trade union in the southern African country, is lobbying
for the reform of Zimbabwe's Labour Act to allow men at least 14 days
paternity leave so that they can assist their wives and provide other
forms of support to their families.
ZCTU says Zimbabwe's current
labour laws, which only allow maternity leave to women, are
discriminatory and have the effect of disadvantaging women. Among other
reforms, the labour body wants government to strike down limitations on
the one year duration of employment required before a woman can seek
maternity leave, a current 24 month minimum limit on child-spacing and
a limit on the number of children a woman can have under one employer.
The
men in Zimbabwe are not alone. A recent survey of maternity protection
laws by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows that many
countries have sought innovative ways to bridge the gap between work
and family life often created by the arrival of a new baby.
"Paternity
leave provisions are becoming increasingly common around the world,
with at least 49 countries providing paternity or parental leave
policies that fathers can use around the birth of their child," Tomei
said , adding, "This policy pattern which recognizes the father’s
involvement is an important step towards gender equality."
In
Norway both parents have access to a time account that allows to take
partial parental leave, which comes with the benefit of reduced working
hours for a period of up to two year, while in Mongolia, mothers and
single fathers are entitled to paid leave until the child is three
years old. Parents also have additional breaks for childcare or feeding.
Tomei
said nearly one-third of ILO member states have introduced provisions
for nursing and childcare facilities in their legislation whilst other
countries, such as Chile and France, financially support parents
through childcare allowances, vouchers and tax savings for both working
parents and employers.
As men join the fight, it remains to be
seen how far governments and employers will go in meeting employees and
the self-employed half-way on coping with the demands of new arrivals
in their families.
WageIndicator
Jul 09, 2010
