Yahoo – AFP,
Nina Larson, 13 May 2014
 |
The United
States is one of just three countries not to guarantee any paid
maternity
leave, the UN says (AFP Photo/Michael Buckner)
|
Geneva
(AFP) - The United States is one of just three countries not to guarantee any
paid maternity leave, a policy that costs the country dearly, the UN's labour
agency said Tuesday.
Only Papua
New Guinea, Oman and the United States -- the world's largest economy -- do not
require employers to provide paid leave, according to an International Labour
Organization report published Tuesday entitled "The State of Maternity and
Paternity at Work".
Under US
national law, all new mothers can take up to 12 weeks off after giving birth,
but without the guaranteed right to compensation.
"Definitely,
the (US) society is losing out," said Laura Addati, a maternity protection
and work-family specialist at the ILO.
 |
A large
majority of women workers in the
world do not have access to "adequate
maternity protection" (AFP Photo/Nicolas
Asfouri)
|
Eastern
European and Central Asian countries were the most generous, with public funds
providing women in Croatia for instance 100 percent of their salary during a
year-long maternity leave.
The
Scandinavian countries also performed well, with Norway allowing both parents a
combined year and 10 months off -- with four months reserved exclusively for
the father -- and receive 80 percent of their salaries while they're away.
Shauna
Olney, who heads the ILO's Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch, hailed such
initiatives aimed at getting fathers to carry more of the burden at home and
thus help iron out gender inequality at work.
"There
is a growing recognition of the link with gender equality and also the
importance of the role of fathers in child development," she told
reporters, stressing the need "to change perceptions of parenting roles
and of prevailing stereotypes."
A large
majority of women workers in the world, some 830 million of them, meanwhile do
not have access to "adequate maternity protection," according to ILO
standards.
These
require at least 14 weeks paid maternity leave and a guarantee the woman will
get her job back when she returns.
Nearly 80
percent of those women live in Africa and Asia, the UN agency said.
Health
versus income security
Five US
states including California and New York require some form of compensation
during maternity leave and some businesses choose to continue paying at least a
percentage of a new mother's salary during her absence.
But the ILO
says only 12 percent of women working in the private sector in the country have
access to paid leave, and the percentage drops to just five percent for
low-wage workers.
This often
puts women and their families in an impossible position, forcing them "to
choose between their health and the health of their child and income security
of their families," Addati told reporters.
A full
quarter of women with no access to compensation during their absence decide to
forfeit most of the maternity leave they are entitled to and come back to work
within 10 days of giving birth, she said.
 |
A large
majority of women workers in the
world do not have access to "adequate
maternity protection" (AFP Photo/
Yoshikazu Tsuno)
|
Pregnancy
and maternity discrimination claims in the United States meanwhile swelled 31
percent between 2005 and 2010, growing faster than all job bias claims in that
period, the ILO found.
US courts
have awarded some $150 million in damages for such claims since 2001,
reflecting "the persistence of job dismissal and employment discrimination
on the basis of maternity," it said.
The United
States is not alone on that front.
Despite
laws on the books in most countries prohibiting workplace discrimination of
pregnant women and new mothers, "maternity discrimination persists around
the world, everywhere," Addati said.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment