Dr Mandeep Singh Azad and Dr Kawardeep Kour
As Michelle Obama stated in an interview, a mother is the hardest job in the world. You give birth to your children, take care of them and see that they have the best life you can give them. Before she became the First Lady, she was a lawyer. She took her girls to school, left work to bring them home and went back to work. Came home, fixed supper, helped with their homework, listened to them and put them to bed. When her husband came home, she spent time with him. Motherhood is a beautiful phase in the life of a married female. With the women entering the role of mother, alongwith the happiness it brings, there are lot of challenges too.

Mother’s Day Special

Especially in today’s environment, as most of the women are working, they need to maintain and balance their role as an employee and mother. Coping with the environment at workplace, competing and meeting the demands in the family becomes challenging for a mother.Women’s health is an important factor that needs to be taken care of at workplace and at family, so that a healthy and stress-free women can balance and give the best output at both the ends; at workplace she can more efficientlyperform her duties and at family front, she can raise and take care of the child in the best possible manner to raise a responsible member of the society.In a developing country like India which consists of a patriarchal society, many rights are yet to be provided to the women. Women have been working unpaid for decades like household work, cooking, cleaning, and child care. The working culture for women was developed after India got independence. Urbanization and industrialization and new social norms (economic hardships, job opportunities) encouraged women to seek gainful employment outside their homes which later developed many other issues like discrimination and miserable working conditions. Pregnancy became one of them. Women were dismissed because of pregnancy or they had to quit their jobs for childcare. Giving birth and taking care of infants have always been the burden of women in most societies.
In a significant ruling few days back, the Supreme Court asserted that the provision of a two-year childcare leave, in addition to the mandatory 180-day maternity leave, is a constitutional right for women employees. The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala, emphasized that the denial of such leave tantamounts to forcing women to resign from their jobs. The Maternity Benefit Act was first introduced in the year 1961 to secure the employment of working women during their pregnancy. The Maternity benefit refers to a payment or allowance made by the state or an employer to a woman during pregnancy or after childbirth. Maternity benefits are only accessible to pregnant working women. This Act is to ensure paid leaves to a pregnant woman before and after she gives birth. The provisions of Maternity Benefit Act in India are only applicable for the establishment which has 10 and more employees.
DEVELOPMENTS IN MATERNITY BENEFIT LAW
In India, the first Maternity Benefit Act was familiarized in 1961. After enactment of the said Act, it became mandatory for the employers to provide maternity benefits to the female employees working in their respective establishments. The Act of 1961 included the provisions for 12 weeks of leave from employment for expectant mothers; the Right of female employee to payment of maternity benefit; provision for the leave for miscarriage; and also, provision for leave for illness arising out of pregnancy, delivery, premature birth of a child. After almost five decades the government in the year 2016 proposed a bill to amend the original Maternity Benefit Act with a view to work for social justice, both in the organized and unorganized sectors, in recognition of the critical role played by women.
An amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act was made and received assent from the president of India on 27th March 2017. On April 1, 2017, the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 came into force, amending major elements of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The key provisions and major changes introduced through the Amendment Act, 2017 are enlisted below;
* The duration of paid maternity has been increased now from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
* The accessibility to the paid leave has now been extended to eight weeks before the expected due date instead of the previous six weeks. This benefit has now been extended to commissioning and adoptive mothers.
* ‘Work from home’ option has been introduced which can be opted after the expiry of the paid leave period for which terms and conditions have to be negotiated by the employer.
* It is now compulsory for the establishments having more than 50 employees to have an in-house crèche facility
* Women have permission to use the crèche facility for a maximum of four times a day.
* Education/awareness of women about their rights to maternity benefits is now mandatory.
Enhancement of the Maternity Leave – Paid maternity leave has been expanded from 12 to 26 weeks for women working in any firm with 10 or more workers. Furthermore, not more than 8 weeks of leave to the women employee shall precede the date of her expected delivery. A mother with two or more children will not be eligible for the increased maternity leave, and such women will be entitled to only 12 weeks of paid maternity leave of which not more than 6 weeks shall precede the date of her expected delivery.
Surrogacy/Adoption Leave – Working women adopting a baby under the age of three months will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave under the Amended Act, and so will commissioning mothers who use a surrogate to have a child.
Introduction of Work from Home option – Employers may consider a “work from home” option for nursing mothers after 26 weeks of maternity leave.
Medical Bonus – The medical bonus of Rs. 2,500-3,500 that eligible women employees are entitled to remains unchanged.
Obligation of the Employer – The employer must provide written and electronic notice of maternity benefits and company policy to all female employees.
Protection from termination during the pregnancy – Any dismissal or discharge of a pregnant woman is illegal, and the employer can be held liable for the same. However, in circumstances of intentional misconduct, the employer has the authority to take appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the Company’s disciplinary policy.
Challenges that India’s working mothers face
A lack of support:
One of the primary reasons that women decide not to work or drop out of the workforce is the lack of support they experience from their families and in their workplace. According to a study by the Centre for Global Development, working mothers in India took on an additional 360 hours of childcare per woman during the pandemic, which is ten times what the average Indian man puts in. This means that women who commit to pursuing their careers also have to put in extra hours at home with little, to no support from other family members such as their husbands or even their in-laws. At the same time, men are simply expected to show up and be productive at work. Typically, the male workforce does not carry the burden of making a balanced meal for their family every morning, making sure their children get on the school bus on time, or even being too concerned about what time they will get home from work in the evening.
Mother’s guilt:
A report by Ashoka University titled “Predicament of Returning Mothers” found that 50% of working women in India, leave their jobs at the age of 30 to take care of their children. The study also found that out of the mothers that do return to the workforce, 48% quit their jobs within four months of joining. This means that despite having the support to go back to work and being passionate about building their career, women still chose to give up their jobs to care for their children. A mother’s guilt plays a huge role in such a decision. While women may be aware of the attachment a mother feels to her newborn and even to young children, very few recognise the impact it will have on their work. Sitting at the desk, worrying about whether your child ate on time, is safe at the creche or school you send them to, and missing the presence of your child are all fairly common worries that mothers face. The issue is that women are not given the tools to deal with these feelings of worry. Once the worry and self-doubt begin to creep in, friends, family and relatives may also persuade the woman to quit her job instead of finding an alternative solution to her worries. In the end, women begin to believe that they are failing at their role as mothers by being caught up in work responsibilities, and they finally choose to leave the workforce once and for all.
Bias against working mothers:
Almost 7 in 10 (69%) working mothers say they have faced discrimination at work due to their household and familial responsibilities. Despite what we would like to believe there is a very strong bias against working women in India. The bias shows up at home and in the community by shaming women who work. It is assumed that working mothers are bad mothers since they cannot stay home with their children. Such judgement can still be overlooked if one has a supportive partner, however, bias against women at work impacts employee engagement and will eventually lead to them giving up their positions assuming that they are not fit to be part of the workforce. Women are also given fewer responsibilities and ignored in decision-making, assuming that they will not be able to put in the hours required to properly execute the tasks at hand. Over time, women begin to get demotivated and believe that staying home would be a better choice for them since they don’t do much at work anyway.

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