CHENNAI: Only 26% of women in the country return to work after a baby. Will the newly amended Maternity Benefit Act which mandates 6 months paid maternity leave in all private and public sector companies help improve this statistic? One of the biggest roadblocks on the journey back to work post-baby is the lack of affordable, quality child care. Gone are the days when grandparents dropped everything to come running and help raise the baby. And rightfully so. So what are the options out there? Where are the trained, qualified caregivers in a clean, safe environment to leave your child in?
While the amended act decrees that employers in both government and private sectors will soon be required to provide creche facilities for employees, either in the office or within a 500-metre distance, how will this be enforced and who will look at quality control?
Many working parents in the country still depend on domestic help, who can be highly unreliable, to look after their children. A friend recently went back to work after a long break because her long time domestic help assured her that she would move in with them and provide support. But now she says that she wants to quit. What’s a parent to do in such a situation?
The Act also states that women who adopt infants or opt for surrogacy may get three months leave. Now that’s unfair. If the entire point of the Act is to put new mothers on an equal footing at work after a baby, then they must help ALL mothers do this — adopted or biological. The six months paid maternity leave is deeply tied to breastfeeding, which could be why parents who adopt are being offered less leave. Sure, breastfeeding for many is a wonderful bonding experience with their child, but caring for a new born is so much more than this one thing.
And where does paternity leave figure in all of this? Doesn’t extended maternity leave just reinforce the idea that looking after a small child is primarily a mother’s job? Paid parental leave for either parent after delivery would go a long way in helping change this perception. Though I admit I asked a few men if they would take 6 months paid paternity leave and they all seemed hesitant.
They felt that unless company culture changed enough to make it acceptable, it would hurt their future prospects. Which is exactly the position women find themselves in. Many come back to less exciting roles in the short and long term. How many women have a realistic conversation with their managers about what their prospects will be like after they have a baby? And how often is this honoured?
I know it sounds like I’m whining about what is a big step in the right direction. But in addition to acts and bills, a shift on how organisations and we as a society think about child care, parenting roles and work-life balance is needed. Without that, I wonder if women will be pressurised to return to work without the support systems in place to help them.
So to all the mothers out there who quit work after a baby, really, what will make you go back to work? And keep you there?
(The writer’s parenting philosophy is: if there’s no blood, don’t call me)