tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/maternity-leave-legislation-25598/articlesMaternity leave legislation – The Conversation2022-09-21T13:11:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1897662022-09-21T13:11:47Z2022-09-21T13:11:47Z12% of working women in South Africa are domestic workers – yet they don’t receive proper maternity leave or pay<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484527/original/file-20220914-17-zlu3u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">GettyImages</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Most of the world’s domestic workers – <a href="https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/WIEGO_Statistical_Brief_N32_DWs%20in%20the%20World.pdf">(76%)</a> – are women. They mainly do housework like cleaning, washing clothes, cooking and childcare, usually in private households. Domestic workers often have low incomes and are excluded from basic labour rights and employment benefits like pensions and paid leave. </p>
<p>There are over <a href="https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/WIEGO_Statistical_Brief_N32_DWs%20in%20the%20World.pdf">76 million</a> domestic workers globally, representing between 1% and 2% of the global workforce. Around <a href="https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/WIEGO_Statistical_Brief_N32_DWs%20in%20the%20World.pdf">80%</a> of domestic workers work informally. </p>
<p>Of all working women in South Africa, around <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2022.pdf#page=70">12%</a> work as domestic workers. These workers have little or no safety nets. This form of work takes place in people’s homes, quite a personal context. It’s therefore difficult to make sure the sector applies regulatory frameworks. Domestic workers often depend on the goodwill of their employer to access components of maternity protection.</p>
<p>The International Labour Organization offers a definition of comprehensive maternity protection. It includes health protection at the workplace and a period of maternity leave. Women should get cash payments and medical benefits while on maternity leave. They should have job security and not face discrimination. Daily breastfeeding breaks and childcare support are also part of the protection package. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I <a href="https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-022-04944-0">recently</a> described what maternity protection is available to non-standard workers in South Africa. This category includes temporary, part-time and casual workers. We specifically focused on domestic workers as a vulnerable sub-group.</p>
<p>South Africa’s laws and regulations <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35808809/">incorporate some elements</a> of global maternity protection recommendations. Non-standard workers are supposed to get health protection in the workplace, maternity leave and job security. They should not be discriminated against. But the policy framework is fragmented. And it’s difficult for employers and employees to interpret. </p>
<p>We found that domestic workers struggled to access maternity protection benefits – particularly cash payments while on maternity leave. This is because of gaps in the legislation, and employers not complying with relevant laws. Women may lose their income for the months they are on maternity leave.</p>
<p>Workplaces and employers need to be encouraged to go beyond minimum national requirements. They must aim to be in line with progressive global guidance. Workplaces, employers, managers, and members of society should intentionally contribute to supportive environments for women to be able to combine their work and family responsibilities. This could result in improved breastfeeding practices, which would play a role in improving the health and development of future generations.</p>
<h2>Maternity protection</h2>
<p>Maternity protection is available in South Africa for some non-standard workers. These provisions are dispersed across various documents and government departments. </p>
<p>We identified 29 policy and legislative documents that contain provisions on maternity protection relevant to non-standard workers. Most of these documents were from the Department of Employment and Labour. </p>
<p>The components of maternity protection are scattered through many policy documents. For example, to understand the cash payments that domestic workers are entitled to when on maternity leave, one needs to consult a number of different laws. These include the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a63-010.pdf">Unemployment Insurance Act</a> (2001), the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a4-02.pdf">Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act</a> (2002) and the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201411/38237rg10319gon919.pdf">Sectoral Determination for Domestic Work</a> (2002), among others. </p>
<p>And there is weak alignment within government. For example, the National Department of Employment and Labour is responsible for labour legislation, which contain provisions on maternity protection. The National Department of Health implements health policy – some of which is relevant for maternity protection. But there are no clear communication channels or coordination between these two departments. Implementation, monitoring and enforcement of existing maternity protection policy are inadequate.</p>
<p>When women do not receive some form of income replacement (cash payment) while on maternity leave, they are not able to make full use of the maternity leave period available to them. They often return to work earlier than recommended. This has consequences for the care of their newborn. It also interferes with the establishment of breastfeeding. </p>
<p>All components of maternity protection need to be available and accessible for working women to be able to recover from childbirth, care for their new baby and establish breastfeeding. There is substantial <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2/fulltext">evidence</a> to support the many short- and long-term health, economic and environmental benefits of breastfeeding for children, women and society. </p>
<p>The most recent South African National Demographic Health Survey shows that only <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=214">32%</a> of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed. The World Health Assembly has recommended that the global target for exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months be increased to <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-NMH-NHD-14.2">50%</a> in all countries by 2025. Political support and financial investment are required to protect, promote and support breastfeeding and therefore create the conditions to give children the best start in life. </p>
<h2>Improving access</h2>
<p>The diversity of non-standard employment makes it especially challenging for many women to access maternity protection. Women in the <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/women-in-informal-economy">informal economy</a> make up a significant proportion of the workforce, especially in Africa. This is why it’s important to consider their labour-related rights. </p>
<p>Government – specifically the National Department of Employment and Labour – needs to ensure that the efficiency and accessibility of current social protection mechanisms such as the unemployment insurance fund are improved. One way of doing this could be making it easier for employers to find information on how to comply with relevant labour legislation, including that which enables access to maternity protection. </p>
<p>Lessons learned from the South African context could be applied to other low- and middle-income countries where non-standard employment is common and similar challenges to access maternity protection are experienced. </p>
<p>Making comprehensive maternity protection available and accessible to all women has potential long-term benefits to women’s and children’s health and development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Pereira-Kotze receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Food Security - <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/">https://foodsecurity.ac.za/</a> </span></em></p>The domestic workers’ place of work, as a private household, is difficult to monitor. It is therefore challenging for government to enforce current legislation.Catherine Pereira-Kotze, PhD candidate, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1083232019-02-20T11:38:34Z2019-02-20T11:38:34ZPaid family leave is an investment in public health, not a handout<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259179/original/file-20190214-1751-uhky3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=724%2C0%2C4500%2C3050&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protected time for new families could pay health dividends later.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/parents-their-newborn-baby-boy-on-729856267">Jacob Lund/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most Americans – <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-president-and-women-in-white-have-paid-leave-in-common/">on both sides of the political aisle</a> – <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/15/an-overwhelming-majority-of-americans-support-paid-parental-leave/">say they support</a> <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ivanka-paid-parental-leave-hearing_us_5b467744e4b022fdcc55b790">paid parental leave</a>. However, we haven’t yet found the political will to make it happen. In part, that’s because the discussion always seems to start with the question, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/06/upshot/a-california-dream-for-paid-leave-has-an-old-problem-how-to-pay-for-it.html">How do we pay for it</a>?” </p>
<p>That question goes only halfway, though. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q676bXMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">As a researcher who focuses on stress and health within families</a>, I believe there’s a more important question to ask: “How do we pay for the lack of parental leave?” In other words, how does the stress of a rapid return to work affect parents, and in turn, cost society as a whole? Recently, I <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000376">sought to answer this question</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/64f37">delving into research</a> on the many changes that new parents experience in the first weeks, months, and years after the birth of a new child – and the possibility that all these changes might not just compromise children’s well-being, but also put parents’ long-term health at risk. </p>
<h2>A global outlier</h2>
<p>How fast should women “bounce back” after giving birth? Instantly, at least according to celebrity magazines. And many workplaces in the United States deliver the same message. The typical American maternity leave <a href="https://www.today.com/health/two-weeks-after-baby-more-new-moms-cut-maternity-leave-4B11229443">lasts only 10 weeks</a>, and a quarter of new mothers <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/18151/the-real-war-on-families">return to work within two weeks</a> of delivering a child.</p>
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<p>The U.S. is <a href="https://www.worldpolicycenter.org/policies/is-paid-leave-available-to-mothers-and-fathers-of-infants/is-paid-leave-available-for-fathers-of-infants">one of the only countries in the world</a> that does not <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/07/15/422957640/lots-of-other-countries-mandate-paid-leave-why-not-the-us">guarantee paid leave to new parents</a>. The 1993 Family Medical and Leave Act provides for unpaid leave – but almost half of U.S. workers are not eligible, and many cannot afford time off without pay. Compare this to the rest of the globe, where <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/maternity-leave-around-the-world-2018-5">paid maternity leave is standard</a>, averaging 18 weeks internationally and extending beyond six months in many developed countries.</p>
<h2>New parent stress, long-term effects?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190628963.013.23">Economists have examined paid family leave policies</a> and measured their impact on worker retention and productivity, as well as health outcomes. But their studies typically focus on population-level trends. As a psychologist whose work takes a more intimate look at family processes, I wondered: How does the stress of work-family conflict affect the well-being of new parents?</p>
<p>I reached out to Stanford economist and family leave policy expert <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vuOKLC4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Maya Rossin-Slater</a> to help digest the body of research on health and family leave. Together with developmental neuroscientist Diane Goldenberg, we reviewed existing studies and proposed future directions for research and policy in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000376">recent paper published in American Psychologist</a>. </p>
<p>Psychologists already know that the transition to parenthood is a high-risk time for <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/postpartum-depression-facts/index.shtml">mental health problems</a> like anxiety and depression. New parents are about <a href="https://www.postpartumdepression.org/resources/statistics/">twice as likely to report clinically significant depression</a> as are adults at other life stages.</p>
<p>Physical health risks may worsen during this time as well. For example, obesity: <a href="https://www.fitpregnancy.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/how-pregnancy-weight-gain-could-contribute-obesity-epidemic">many mothers gain in excess</a> of physician-recommended weight guidelines during pregnancy, and may struggle to <a href="https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/article/2019/01/changes-metabolism-lead-postpartum-weight-gain">lose this weight after birth</a>. New fathers also gain weight: <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/07/25/weight-gain-in-new-fathers-is-a-real-phenomenon-thats-been-subjected-to-a-striking-lack-of-research/">“Dad bod” is real</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258587/original/file-20190212-174873-k8rl48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dads have big adjustments during this transition, too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/0mRerwRVqVA">Zach Vessels/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Stress influences both mental health and weight gain, and may also <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402162546.htm">affect immune and inflammatory processes</a> that can contribute to long-term health risks. Costly chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer drain the economy, and yet few researchers have zeroed in on the transition to parenthood as a potential inflection point in risk for these diseases. Are these risks magnified when parents lack protected time to recover from birth and adjust to parenthood? If so, the U.S. may be setting up new parents – and especially low income parents – to fail. </p>
<p>In making sense of the research that speaks to health in parents, we started by first identifying what changes over the transition to parenthood in order to spotlight potential areas of vulnerability.</p>
<h2>Neurobiological changes</h2>
<p>At the neurobiological level, researchers are finding that new parents’ hormones and brains may be particularly changeable – what scientists call plastic.</p>
<p>Research on rodents has found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2280">pregnancy hormones remodel the maternal rat brain</a>, helping prep the mother-to-be for infant care. Human mothers also show dramatic changes in hormones across pregnancy and the postpartum period. One neuroimaging study scanned women pre-pregnancy and then tracked them over several years, scanning them again after childbirth. Surprisingly, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pregnancy-causes-lasting-changes-in-a-womans-brain/">women’s brains actually shrunk</a> over the transition to motherhood, showing reductions in volume particularly in areas linked with social cognition. Pruning may have helped these areas work more efficiently to support caregiving, since women who lost more brain volume also reported stronger attachment to their infants. </p>
<p>Fathers may also undergo neurobiological transformation across the transition to parenthood. Studies have found <a href="https://theconversation.com/postpartum-depression-can-affect-dads-and-their-hormones-may-be-to-blame-81310">decreased testosterone in new dads</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2014.933713">changes in men’s brain volume</a> in early parenthood, for example. </p>
<p>These neurobiological changes may shape parents’ long-term health, although research evidence is still scant. Scientists also don’t know much about how stress affects the neural and hormonal changes that can accompany parenthood. But what we do know is that new parents are undergoing big biological changes, making this time a sensitive window for the brain. </p>
<h2>Psychological and social change</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258354/original/file-20190211-174857-1wgult6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A new baby can come with a lot of shocks to the system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/XHF_paR2PUE">Jessica To'oto'o/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Although many parents eagerly await the arrival of their new baby, becoming a parent can also be challenging, isolating and even overwhelming. Infants require constant care, which can be cognitively and emotionally taxing and physically exhausting. For parents who must return to work soon after birth, the scramble to find trustworthy childcare can also take a financial toll. </p>
<p>Large studies have found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/have-children-heres-how-kids-ruin-your-romantic-relationship-57944">well-being takes a dip</a> during early parenthood; one found that becoming a parent spurred a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-015-0413-2">larger decline in happiness</a> than events like divorce, unemployment or the death of a partner. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/home-base/201602/can-you-babyproof-your-relationship">Couples’ relationship satisfaction also nosedives</a> in the postpartum period, as they adjust to new roles and responsibilities.</p>
<p>All of these psychological changes may set parents up for heightened mental health risk, reflected in the elevated prevalence of depression and anxiety during this time. </p>
<h2>Behavioral change</h2>
<p>Parents’ everyday routines are upended after a baby’s arrival.</p>
<p>Take sleep. Anyone who has lived with an infant knows they wake up often at night. It’s been estimated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kws246">parents lose about 80 hours</a> of sleep a year for the first few years of a child’s life. Fathers may actually <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/05/473002684/for-new-parents-dad-may-be-the-one-missing-the-most-sleep">wind up more sleep-deprived than mothers</a>, in part because they return to the workplace sooner. </p>
<p>New parents also report <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-3218">lower levels of physical exercise, may eat less healthy diets</a> and have fewer opportunities to pursue hobbies and get together with friends. Given that sleep, exercise and other healthy routines are strongly linked with well-being, these changes might help explain why new parents show heightened health risks across so many domains. In particular, scientists know that poor sleep increases vulnerability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beem.2010.07.001">disease</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/28.10.1289">obesity</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/da.1041">mood disorders</a>, so sleep deprivation in the postpartum period may be a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1160560/">key driver</a> of the risks that new parents experience. </p>
<h2>Risk and vulnerability</h2>
<p>So what can one conclude from all of this research? Like many windows of dynamic developmental change, the transition to parenthood is a time of transformation that can spur growth – but also brings vulnerability.</p>
<p>Changes in stress physiology, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.298.14.1685">obesity, inflammation</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181963/">mental health</a> contribute to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.298.14.1685">cascade of risks that predict costly cardiac and metabolic diseases</a> down the road. Paid family leave requires significant investment, but might save taxpayers money if it lessens the burden of these chronic diseases on the economy. And our review focused on parents’ health in adulthood, not even scratching the surface of the potential benefits to children that paid family leave policy can bring. For example, mothers with access to leave <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12230">breastfeed longer</a>, and family leave has been linked with lower rates of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22012">ADHD and obesity in young children</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259181/original/file-20190214-1754-1yh94n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Investment in family leave now, payoffs in better health later?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-parents-newborn-baby-close-portrait-733313083">paulaphoto/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Research finds that <a href="https://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20180504/loneliness-rivals-obesity-smoking-as-health-risk">loneliness is worse for your health</a> than smoking cigarettes, suggesting that connections with others may play a profound role in population health. Public health investment has led to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/18/smoking-united-states-cigarette-sales/713002002/">dramatic declines in smoking</a> over the last four decades, but hasn’t yet truly tackled <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000103">social cohesion as a public health challenge</a>. What better place to start than by facilitating the first and arguably most important set of social connections – those that blossom within a new family.</p>
<p>This topic is personal for me. When my first child was born, I was a psychotherapy intern at a veterans hospital. As a federal employee, I didn’t qualify for state disability and, as a contract employee, couldn’t access Department of Veterans Affairs leave. My husband, a freelancer, could not take time off without losing income, and I couldn’t quit my job – we needed the health insurance. My wonderful supervisors let me take unpaid time off. But money was tight. Nearby daycares had yearlong wait lists and cost half our combined income. I’m an Ivy League grad with a doctorate, one of the lucky ones, but could barely afford the cost of having a child in the United States. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. If Americans reconceptualize parents as a precious national resource, child-rearing as an enterprise that secures the long-term future of the U.S. economy and the transition to parenthood as a window for long-term health, then we can decide as a society that family leave is worth the investment. And there is hope on the horizon: Less than a year after Tammy Duckworth became the <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/tammy-duckworth-birth-girl-first-senator-have-baby-maile-pearl-bowlsbey-office/">first senator to give birth while in office</a>, the 2018 midterm elections <a href="https://www.workingmother.com/number-working-moms-in-congress-will-double-in-2019">doubled the number of working mothers in Congress</a>. When President Trump mentioned paid family leave in his <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/at-sotu-trump-says-federal-budget-will-include-paid-family-leave">State of the Union address</a>, legislators from both parties applauded – a rare moment of unity in an otherwise divided Congress. At long last, the United States’ status as a global outlier on family leave policy may be coming to an end.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darby Saxbe receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>The transition to parenthood comes with plenty of stress. A psychology researcher suggests that paid family leave could help lift some of the burden – with positive health benefits down the road.Darby Saxbe, Assistant Professor of Psychology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600712016-07-06T03:36:59Z2016-07-06T03:36:59ZLeave for surrogate parents in South Africa: no time for baby steps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129411/original/image-20160705-793-19vf7xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A proposed new law is set to allow surrogate parents in South Africa to also take leave to care for their babies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa took a progressive step by legitimising surrogate parenthood with its <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2005-038%20childrensact.pdf">Children’s Act</a>. However, it somehow failed to provide for leave from work for the concerned parents to care for their infants.</p>
<p>This could change if the <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39448_1174.pdf">Labour Laws Amendment Bill</a> of 2015 is accepted.
The Bill proposes amendments to South Africa’s <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/downloads/legislation/acts/basic-conditions-of-employment/Amended%20Act%20-%20Basic%20Conditions%20of%20Employment.pdf">Basic Conditions of Employment Act</a>, which regulates various types of leave. </p>
<p>Although the Bill is welcomed, there are a number of concerns pertaining to the duration and management of the various types of proposed leave that need to be urgently addressed – especially concerning the best interests of the child. </p>
<h2>Dawn of a new era</h2>
<p>Surrogate parenthood arises where one or two commissioning parents (the parties who enter into a surrogate motherhood agreement with a surrogate mother) agree with another woman to carry a child for them, as they are medically incapable of doing so themselves. </p>
<p>The Children’s Act stipulates that after the birth of the child, the commissioning parties will become the legal parents of that child. The surrogate mother must hand over the child as soon as reasonably possible.</p>
<p>The surrogacy agreement is controlled by the high courts and needs to meet certain requirements. These include, among others, consent by all the parties, the use of the gametes of one or both of the commissioning parents, and that they should be unable to produce a child themselves. The requirements furthermore guard against commercial surrogacy and other prohibited practices.</p>
<p>A shortcoming exists in the law. Although the commissioning parents receive their newborns shortly after birth, they do not have access to particular leave from work to fulfil their parental obligations, like natural parents would. </p>
<p>This failure led to an important Labour Court <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZALCD/2015/20.html">decision </a>in 2015. The matter involved a male employee in a same-sex civil union who had applied for maternity leave as his only recourse to properly care for the newborn that had been born to him and his partner through a surrogate agreement. </p>
<p>The employer denied him such leave, arguing that it applied only to pregnant, female employees. The employee claimed unfair discrimination based on gender, sex, sexual orientation and family responsibility.</p>
<p>After arguing that there was no reason why “someone in the position of the applicant” could not also receive “maternity leave” to serve the interests of the child, the Labour Court mentioned in passing that amendments to current labour legislation would be necessary to appropriately address similar situations by specifically catering for commissioning parents.</p>
<h2>South Africa’s leave regime</h2>
<p>From the various types of leave available in terms of South Africa’s <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/downloads/legislation/acts/basic-conditions-of-employment/Amended%20Act%20-%20Basic%20Conditions%20of%20Employment.pdf">Basic Conditions of Employment Act</a>, only two are arguably relevant to surrogacy: maternity and family responsibility leave. </p>
<p>However, maternity leave of four months (16 weeks) is only available to pregnant employees to protect the health of both the mother and child before and after birth. The International Labour Organisation <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_242615.pdf">supports this notion</a>. We submit that maternity leave is not accessible to parents in terms of a surrogacy agreement, given that they do not meet the requirements.</p>
<p>Maternity leave will naturally be available to a surrogate mother who bears the child, as she qualifies as a pregnant employee. We argue that, similarly to circumstances of a miscarriage or stillbirth noted in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the mother should only be entitled to six weeks statutory leave <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-conditions-of-employment/read-online/amended-basic-conditions-of-employment-act-21">after the birth</a>. In addition, provisions should nevertheless be made for the possibility that she could use the full maternity leave period if she could provide a medical certificate to support the necessity of extended leave beyond the statutory six weeks. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129404/original/image-20160705-795-1bb8p11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mothers-to-be at an ante-natal class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Family responsibility leave, on the other hand, also provides for employees to take leave at the birth of their children in terms of the Act. This type of leave is not gender specific or based upon any health reasons. It can consequently be used by anyone who is the <a href="http://www.labourguide.co.za/conditions-of-employment/343-family-responsibility-leave">legal parent of the child</a>.</p>
<p>In light of the scope of family responsibility leave, the conclusion can be reached that this type of leave will be the only form of recourse that exists for the commissioning parents. Unfortunately the period of leave available in these circumstances only amounts to a period of three days. </p>
<p>Needless to say, the duration of this leave is insufficient to meet the needs of the commissioning parents to care for the child. This gives rise to concern, as commissioning parents have the same parental obligations as traditional parents towards their child. The need for legislative reform can therefore not be denied.</p>
<p>In light of the shortcoming identified by the Labour Court, the <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39448_1174.pdf">recent Bill</a> proposes ten weeks of leave for one commissioning parent. It also proposes another ten days ordinary parental leave to the other parent, to be taken from the date of birth of the child.</p>
<p>It is deduced that this leave will be unpaid as the Bill provides, in the proposed section 26, for unemployment benefits to be claimed in terms of the <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39448_1174.pdf">Unemployment Insurance Act</a>. It is argued that the disparity between maternity, commissioning and ordinary parental leave could open the door to possible claims of unfair discrimination. The periods proposed could also be extended to serve the best interests of the child during the early development stages.</p>
<h2>Lessons from the UK</h2>
<p>Legal developments in the UK regarding surrogacy provide the best guidance for improving the proposed South African law. The UK law protects all the relevant parties in a surrogacy agreement, including the affected children.</p>
<p>The UK’s <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/6/contents/enacted">Children and Families Act</a>, together with the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111118856/contents">Shared Parental Leave Regulations</a>, brought about significant changes to the country’s labour market by expressly providing shared parental leave to employees who become parents in terms of a surrogacy agreement. </p>
<p>After obtaining a parental order, one commissioning parent qualifies for statutory adoption leave. Should the parent decide not to make use of the full leave period, he or she may transfer the remainder of the leave to the other parent – hence the term “shared parental leave”. One of the key aims of making leave available to both parents, despite their gender, was to enable working parents to equally share in the care of their children.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Even though the conclusion of surrogacy agreements is acknowledged and regulated in South Africa, the country is lagging behind in addressing surrogacy-related issues in the labour market. Proper legislative intervention is needed to keep track of the changing values of society.</p>
<p>Similar practices to that of the UK in sharing available leave between the parties to a surrogate agreement could be adopted to address the issues above. This would consequently guard against falling behind on issues that are critical to the interest of parents and their children, irrespective of how they were born.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South African law requires surrogate mothers to hand infants to their legal parents without undue delay. But it doesn’t provide leave for these parents to care for their infants. That is set to change.Anri Botes, Senior Lecturer in Labour Law, North-West UniversityLaetitia Fourie, Lecturer in Mercantile Law, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/557782016-03-08T04:38:59Z2016-03-08T04:38:59ZBetter maternity leave laws are needed to protect African mothers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114069/original/image-20160307-31281-9w7kjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employers should provide an enabling environment at work for women to continue breastfeeding their infants.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Maternity leave for women in developing countries is still a massive problem, with many women in informal sectors not receiving adequate cover.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_242617.pdf">More than 70%</a> of working women do not enjoy the full benefits of maternity leave. Only 330 million women – or 28% of working women – are fully protected, meaning they get time off and full pay. About 80% of those without adequate maternity protection are in Africa and Asia.</p>
<p>When women do not enjoy full maternity benefits, their health – and that of their children – may be affected.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_242617.pdf">Discrimination</a> against women around maternity leave is pervasive throughout the world, according to the International Labour Organisation. And even where legislation does exist, ensuring it is effectively implemented remains a challenge. </p>
<p>The organisation recommends 14 weeks’ maternity leave, with six weeks of compulsory postnatal leave for women in countries that have signed the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C183">Maternity Protection Convention</a>. At least 167 of the organisation’s member nations have passed some form of <a href="http://mprp.itcilo.org/allegati/en/m12.pdf">legislation</a> on maternity protection. But not all countries fully implement or enforce these laws. </p>
<p>In Kenya, for example, laws provide women in formal employment with three months of maternity leave, but in some instances this is not adhered to. And casually employed women are not entitled to maternity leave, according to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mcn.12161/epdf">research</a> conducted by the African Population and Health Research Centre in Kenya. These women have to juggle staying home shortly after delivery to rest and <a href="http://aphrc.org/workplace-support-for-breastfeeding-mothers/">breastfeed</a> their babies with returning to work. </p>
<p>Even where women are entitled to maternity leave, some organisations do not adhere to the regulations and women are asked to work from home during maternity leave or return to work prematurely. Few workplaces provide appropriate policies and an enabling environment for women to combine work with breastfeeding successfully once they return from maternity leave.</p>
<h2>Maternity leave laws across the globe</h2>
<p>Legislating maternity leave is important because it transposes universally accepted principles into national laws and sets minimum national and subnational standards. The content of the legislation is determined individually by countries. </p>
<p>For example, in South Africa, domestic workers are eligible for maternity benefits because they are covered by the basic labour laws of the country. Domestic workers have the right to paid leave, overtime payments, severance pay, notice of dismissal and a written contract with their employer. </p>
<p>The Brazilian constitution grants women 120 days of maternity leave without prejudice to jobs or wages.</p>
<p>In Gabon, a pregnant woman can ask the labour inspector to examine the work she is doing before she goes on maternity leave to ensure that it is not too strenuous for her. If it is found to be dangerous, she may ask to be moved to a different position without loss of pay until three months after she returns from maternity leave. </p>
<p>The International Labour Organisation notes that its maternity leave convention applies to all employed women, including those in atypical forms of dependent work, including part-time, casual or seasonal jobs. But the organisation admits that few countries have included such a wide scope in their national legislation. </p>
<p>In reality, the percentage of women covered by the law is often quite low. Several <a href="http://mprp.itcilo.org/allegati/en/m12.pdf">sectors</a> are either excluded or poorly protected. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the private sector compared with the public sector;</p></li>
<li><p>rural workers compared with urban ones;</p></li>
<li><p>agricultural, informal economy, domestic or homeworkers;</p></li>
<li><p>migrant workers;</p></li>
<li><p>part-time, casual or temporary workers;</p></li>
<li><p>workers in small enterprises or those in family undertakings; and</p></li>
<li><p>self-employed, independent workers.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why maternity leave is important</h2>
<p>Maternity leave allows mothers to breastfeed adequately, and to rest and recover from nine months of pregnancy and subsequent delivery. Research shows that the longer a mother stays on maternity leave, the more likely she is to breastfeed exclusively or <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2.pdf">breastfeed at all</a>.</p>
<p>Breastfeeding is critical to good nurturing. It has enormous short- and long-term <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43623/1/9789241595230_eng.pdf">benefits</a>. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>reduced infections and deaths among infants; </p></li>
<li><p>improved mental and physical development; and </p></li>
<li><p>improved <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(15)70002-1/abstract">intellectual performance</a>, educational achievement and earning ability in adulthood. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Breastfeeding improves mothers’ <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(15)70002-1.pdf">post-partum recovery</a>. It also reduces the risk of non-communicable diseases such as <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)01024-7.pdf">diabetes</a>, cancer and depression, and improves birth spacing. </p>
<p>But adverse work conditions mean many mothers stop exclusive breastfeeding before six months or any breastfeeding before two years, counter to World Health Organisation <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2.pdf">recommendations</a>.</p>
<h2>Improving economic activity</h2>
<p>A woman should be given the chance to exercise her right to choose both good nurture for her baby and productivity for herself. </p>
<p>Women should be supported to successfully combine work with breastfeeding so they do not have to choose one over the other. This may include safeguarding the three months’ maternity leave provided for in international labour legislation. But it should include the option of providing longer maternity leave of up to six months. </p>
<p>This would cover the World Health Organisation’s recommended six months of exclusive breastfeeding. And employers should provide an enabling environment at work for women to continue breastfeeding. </p>
<p>It is also important to consider those categories not entitled to maternity leave in many national labour laws. </p>
<p>Protecting maternity leave is not only important for the well-being of the mother and her baby; it is important for the whole society. It is the first step towards optimal child development, health and survival. It will also <a href="https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/why-nutrition-and-breastfeeding-are-crucial-to-sustainable-development/">help achieve</a> the <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> and the realisation of the <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/demographic-dividend">demographic dividend</a>. Importantly, it also has an effect on women’s economic productivity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Kimani-Murage receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, NIH/USAID, Unicef, Transform Nutrition.</span></em></p>Only 28% of working women across the globe are fully protected by maternity laws that provide for time off work with full pay.Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, Research Scientist at the African Population and Health Research Center and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.