Enhanced maternity leave should be seen as an investment
Thursday, 29 April 2010
A proposal for the enhancement of fully paid maternity leave for women in government services has recently been sent to the Finance Ministry for due consideration. The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, which took the initiative according to the Prime Minister's wishes , recommended six months' leave, that is, two months more than the current entitlement. If accepted, this enhanced leave could make a difference in the nutritional status of infants, provided the new mothers use the entire period to breastfeed their babies.
This should be seen as an investment in the nation's future rather than expenditure, and for good reason. Consistent access to mother's milk, at least for the first six months, is extremely crucial if babies are to be strong enough to fight the commonest illnesses that the under-five in Bangladesh are exposed to. This is common knowledge now, thanks to the international activism in favour of mother's milk, and against the sale and promotion of so-called baby foods as substitutes.
But the sad fact is that a great many women workers, not in government employment, are deprived of even the minimum of ILO provisions, and 'maternity leave' is quite foreign to them. According to a report in a contemporary, claiming to cite the 'Bangladesh Labour Force Survey', the number of female workers in urban areas is 2.8 million while in the rural areas it is 9.3 million. The terms of reference used by the survey to arrive at these figures are quite narrow, for example, the readymade garments sector, agriculture, and some small enterprises only. The 'informal' sector, as usual, does not count ----which obviously accounts for the comparatively modest numbers recorded as 'female labour'.
Be that as it may, the Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, one of the foremost women's rights advocates, is of the view that women workers in all sectors should be entitled to six months' maternity leave. This would undoubtedly benefit both the child and the mother immediately, and the nation as a whole in the long run. Of course, a great deal more, in terms of 'conscientization,' has to take place before employers can begin to focus on the 'big picture', so to say, and appreciate the returns from investing in the well-being of their workers.
Bangladesh is one of the world's most malnourished nations and the process literally begins in the womb, with poorly nourished, underweight mothers giving birth to underweight babies ---- perpetuating the vicious circle of poor nutrition-low productivity- poverty ------ and a very high rate of maternal and under-five child mortality. This needless tragedy could be minimised if would-be working mothers at least were guaranteed the necessary nutrition, and the new-borns were breastfed at least up to six months, if not more. The sky would be the limit for Bangladesh if business practices and government policies could both be made to attend to the well-being of the people they deal with --- women and children and men.
This should be seen as an investment in the nation's future rather than expenditure, and for good reason. Consistent access to mother's milk, at least for the first six months, is extremely crucial if babies are to be strong enough to fight the commonest illnesses that the under-five in Bangladesh are exposed to. This is common knowledge now, thanks to the international activism in favour of mother's milk, and against the sale and promotion of so-called baby foods as substitutes.
But the sad fact is that a great many women workers, not in government employment, are deprived of even the minimum of ILO provisions, and 'maternity leave' is quite foreign to them. According to a report in a contemporary, claiming to cite the 'Bangladesh Labour Force Survey', the number of female workers in urban areas is 2.8 million while in the rural areas it is 9.3 million. The terms of reference used by the survey to arrive at these figures are quite narrow, for example, the readymade garments sector, agriculture, and some small enterprises only. The 'informal' sector, as usual, does not count ----which obviously accounts for the comparatively modest numbers recorded as 'female labour'.
Be that as it may, the Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, one of the foremost women's rights advocates, is of the view that women workers in all sectors should be entitled to six months' maternity leave. This would undoubtedly benefit both the child and the mother immediately, and the nation as a whole in the long run. Of course, a great deal more, in terms of 'conscientization,' has to take place before employers can begin to focus on the 'big picture', so to say, and appreciate the returns from investing in the well-being of their workers.
Bangladesh is one of the world's most malnourished nations and the process literally begins in the womb, with poorly nourished, underweight mothers giving birth to underweight babies ---- perpetuating the vicious circle of poor nutrition-low productivity- poverty ------ and a very high rate of maternal and under-five child mortality. This needless tragedy could be minimised if would-be working mothers at least were guaranteed the necessary nutrition, and the new-borns were breastfed at least up to six months, if not more. The sky would be the limit for Bangladesh if business practices and government policies could both be made to attend to the well-being of the people they deal with --- women and children and men.