IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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International Labour Organization (ILO)

Conditions of Work and Employment Programme (TRAVAIL)

 

Maternity at work: A review of national legislation. Second Edition [June 2010]

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/

or

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/maw2010_en.pdf

[full-text, 120 pages]

 

Executive Summary

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/maw_exec_en.pdf

 

 

Findings from the ILO Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws

 

Protecting the maternity of women workers is essential to women's rights and abilities to successfully combine their reproductive and productive roles, free from discrimination in employment on the basis of their actual or potential role as mothers. Maternity protection for women workers contributes to the health and well-being of mothers and their babies, and thus to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, which seek the reduction of child mortality and improvement of the health of mothers. By safeguarding women's employment and income security during and after maternity, maternity protection is also essential for ensuring women's access to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace, and progress towards Millennium Development Goal 3: promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.

 

This global report provides a comprehensive review of national legislative provisions for maternity protection in 167 countries and their conformity with the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 191). The first section analyses three key aspects of maternity leave provisions: the duration, the cash benefit paid and the source of the funding. The second part of the report covers other kinds of leave provisions, safeguards on employment, health and safety, and breastfeeding. Apart from maternity leave, access to other kinds of leave provisions, such as paternity leave, parental leave and adoption leave, are also important to help both women and men reconcile work and family life.

 

This updated review shows that, over the last 15 years, there have been noticeable improvements in maternity protection legislation around the world, with a shift towards longer rest periods at the time of childbirth, and movement away from employer liability systems of financing maternity leaves. This report draws from information on maternity protection legislation from the ILO Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws, a searchable online database.

 

CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Maternity leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Duration of leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cash benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

3. Related types of leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Paternity leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Parental leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Adoption leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

4. Employment protection and non-discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Maternity discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Protection from discriminatory dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Maintaining employment benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5. Health protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Arrangement of working time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Dangerous or unhealthy work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Breastfeeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Annex I

Key national provisions for maternity

protection by region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Annex II

Summary of information available in ILO

database for each country, by region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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