Maternity Protection for Working Women
UNICEF and the World Health Assembly
recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months
of a baby's life followed by sustained breastfeeding with
complementary foods. This recommendation has been shown
to have many health benefits, including reducing the incidence
and severity of diseases such as acute respiratory infections
and diarrhea. For mothers, some of the benefits of breastfeeding
include lower rates of anemia, pre-menopausal breast cancer
and epithelial ovarian cancer, osteoporotic fractures later
in life, and longer birth intervals.
For many working mothers around the
world, the period of maternity leave is inadequate for putting
these recommendations into practice Ð and many women have
no maternity protection at all. In 1999 the International
Labour Office (ILO) began the two-year process of revising
its 1952 Maternity Protection Convention no. 103. The first
Maternity Protection Convention was adopted in 1919. Once
adopted and ratified by each member state, ILO Conventions
must be implemented into national legislation. Since this
Convention has not been revised for almost 50 years, it
is of the utmost importance that the Maternity Protection
Convention 2000, which will be discussed and adopted in
June, ensures the best possible protection for mothers and
their babies for many years to come. To ensure long-term
benefits to all sectors of our societies, the Convention
needs to reflect the current and future reality of women's
essential roles as mothers and valuable employees.
Breastfeeding advocates concerned with
the health and well-being of mothers and their babies, as
well as workers' organizations, are campaigning for a Convention
which will set an adequate international standard. The key
points for advocacy are:
-
Adequately paid maternity leave
after childbirth of at least 12 weeks, including compulsory
leave for the first six weeks as a minimum. IBFAN and
its partners advocate 26 weeks maternity leave in line
with the recommendation to breastfeed exclusively for
about six months. The draft Convention currently has
a provision for 12 weeks paid maternity leave including
an unspecified period of compulsory leave.
-
Breastfeeding breaks to enable
the mother to continue breastfeeding after her return
to work. These breaks should be at least 30 minutes
twice per day and be counted as work time. The draft
Convention currently has an Article providing for one
or more paid daily breaks for breastfeeding. Unfortunately,
there is a possibility that this provision might be
moved from the legally-binding Convention to the Recommendation
which is not legally binding for Member States who ratify
the Convention.
-
Other important areas of maternity
leave include a woman's right to safe working conditions
before and after childbirth, freedom from discrimination
and harassment, and fear of losing her job.
IBFAN and its partner organizations
are committed to promoting the highest possible standard
of protection for working women, particularly at this time
of intense competition in the global marketplace. A great
deal of work has already been done at international and
national level and we need to intensify these efforts for
the deciding session of the ILO Conference in June and for
implementation by governments after the new Convention has
been agreed.
What you can do as groups and individuals:
-
spread the word about how maternity
protection benefits all of society: men and women, employers,
workers and government.
-
urge ministries of health and labour
to get together and talk about the benefits of good
maternity protection;
-
inform women and their partners
of their existing rights and work to improve these rights
through information meetings in the community and work
with the media (TV shows, talks on radio, articles in
newspapers, etc.)
IBFAN has published a fact sheet, Breastfeeding:
Everyone Benefits.
A lobbying kit "Maternity Protection
2000: It's for All of Us" (International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions) can be found on www.icftu.org
NEXT>
Maternity Protection for Working Women * Breastfeeding, why ? * Breastfeeding,
how ?
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