Maternity Act Amendment
As per the proposed amendments in the Maternity Benefit Act, maternity leaves for women working in both private and public sector will be enhanced to 26 weeks as against the existing 12 weeks. However, those women employees who already have two or more children will get 12 weeks of leave only.
The amended bill also propose 12 weeks of maternity leave to commissioning mothers who use surrogates to bear a child as well as to working women adopting a baby below the age of three months.
Additionally, the amended Act have an enabling provision that would allow nursing moms to work from home even after 26 weeks of maternity leave, depending upon their job profile. But, work-from-home option will be available where the nature of work assigned to the employee permits her to do so. The woman employee and her employer have to mutually agree on the duration of the `work from home’ arrangement.
With this India joins league of 42 countries where maternity exceeds 18 weeks.
Reactions have been pouring on social media some in favour of the amendment and some doubting the objective to be achieved by means of this amendment. India Inc has been still silent, no major reactions from the corporate world. Of course, most would also want to be politically correct and in times when organizations have started to be vocal about gender equality, very few would come out in open to oppose the amendment.
Few organizations had already put into practice the 6 month Maternity leave policy – Pepsi co, Godrej, PWC, GSK, Flipkart, KPMG. Tata Sons is further ahead with 7 month Maternity leave policy.
The “women-friendly” measures also include making it mandatory for firms with 50 employees to have crèches individually or a few firms can set up a common facility within a prescribed distance. The employer will have to allow four visits to the creche which will include the interval of rest allowed to women employees.
What’s happening around the world?
According to the 2014 “International Business Report” by accounting firm Grant Thornton, countries like Russia, Indonesia, Latvia and the Philippines have 40% or more women in senior management, while industrialized countries have about 20%. The U.S. is among the bottom 10 countries in the report with just 22%, along with Spain (22%), the UK (20%), Denmark (14%) and Germany (14%).
The report has surveyed about 6,600 privately owned companies in 45 countries, and has found that the proportion of senior roles filled by women across the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — surpasses 30%, exceeding the global average of 24%. The report also mentions that these countries also reap the benefits of growing institutional support for working women, such as remote working arrangements, flexible hours and paid maternity leave.
Hit or Miss?
Going by this report the verdict should be a big NOD to the amended maternity Act.
An update from a friend’s timeline on Facebook :
“Anybody counting how many come back after 6 months?” And let’s not debate whether this update is of a man or woman. Gender of the person does not matter. But the question and the inhibitions with the Act is a reality which India Inc and women professionals would have to face.
Do woman come back post maternity leave of 3 months? So, what ensures that they would be back after 6 months?
Will this Act make workplace more conducive for women who would want to adopt motherhood or would it make hiring and promotions more difficult for women?
How many managers and leaders would want executives who have a high chance of going on maternity leave? (Let me clarify, every manager lives in fear of his female executive dropping off after marriage and if not post marriage, definitely post maternity). This would mean any woman above the age of 22- 23 would fall in this bracket.
In my assignments and coaching sessions, both men and women managers have raised these questions. They simply start by asking me to be in their shoes and managing work pressure with one less player. It’s like a football match with one less player.. who would want to be part of this team? And this coupled with many more complex issues of handholding maternity transition for women employees and managing rest of the team. After all, we are trained to function in a competitive and not collaborative work space.
But, of course nothing falls into place without making an effort. To begin with, it will require the right intention. Organizations would have to initiate sensitization programs for men and women. Importance of women in work place and leadership roles would need to be reiterated and reinforced via multiple touchpoints. The logical human mind understands profit. If the organizations can show better business sustainability by having better gender ratio, the initial doubts and resentment would give way to collaboration and change.
Are quotas or mandatory policies the best way to steer women in leadership roles – this would remain a topic of debate. My personal opinion is that to get to an equal start point, to break years of patriarchal mindset displayed consciously / unconsciously by both genders, policies, quotas play a crucial role. The challenge lies in execution.
Write to us at shilpi@altavis.co.in / sarika@altavis.co.in to know more about our sensitization and leadership programs. Visit our website www.altavis.co.in / www.bdfoundation.in passage of this bill, India will join the league of 42 countries where
With the passage of this bill, India will join the league of 42 countries where maternity leave
