Introduction: The Impenetrable Glass Ceiling
The new Code on Social Security, 2020, subsumes several Codes, including the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. While there are progressive changes like the increase in punishment prescribed for violating these guaranteed maternity rights amongst other things, the new labour laws still fail to account for the burden of motherhood on women’s careers. Motherhood and a successful career have always been an ‘either/or situation’ for most women around the world. The labour force participation of women with children up to the age of three are the lowest, while there is negligible difference in case of men. As per a report by the World Bank, women constitute only a little over 20% of the Indian workforce as of September 2020. This article aims to understand how motherhood affects women’s employability and their career, and discusses reasons why offering paternity leave to men after the birth of a child might possibly help ease the reintegration of women into the workplace post-partum.
Women have always been deemed less valuable as employees than men, and are usually worse off compared to their male colleagues, especially during an economic crisis. This has been further substantiated by the economic crisis that the COVID pandemic has created. While the entire labour market was severely affected as a consequence, women lost more jobs than men, and women’s employability was estimated to be 19% more at risk than men. Women’s incorporation back into work in the aftermath has also been slower than that of men due to existing gender inequalities. Added to that, the attitudinal bias, burden of domestic duties and motherhood further aggravate the problem. India needs to have more family friendly policies which mitigate the societal pressures that hamper women’s career progression.
Economic Burden of Motherhood: Hurdles & Challenges
The current laws in India provide for a paid leave of 26 weeks for new mothers as prescribed under Section 60 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. As for fathers, there are currently no laws for paternity leave, save for certain government employees that get 15 days paid leave. The Paternity Benefit Bill, 2018, which sought to introduce a 15 day leave for new fathers is yet to be passed by the legislature. As a result, the entire burden of parenthood and child-rearing falls primarily on the woman, which often compels them to take longer breaks, making the transition back into work even harder. This disproportionate workload at home and presumed undependability of pregnant women harms women’s career prospects. Breaks longer than a year can damage career advancement and increase the likelihood of the women leaving the job altogether.
Another issue incidental to this is how the bias surrounding motherhood affects women’s employability and recruitment. A study has found that employers view potential female married employees as less suitable for the job, while the opposite is true for men. Women with children earn lower wages as compared to women without children, and are also less likely to have recruiters respond to applications. The same study revealed that parental status had no effect on responses to men. Employers are sceptical about employing women as existing gender roles perpetuate the idea that a woman’s role as a caregiver supersedes that of an employee. The extent and nature of this discrimination is fairly hard to research, as unconscious bias and presumptions are not easy to recognize or document.
Women are often persuaded to quit their jobs before or during pregnancy. This persuasion ranges from companies offering incentives for the same to even downright bullying or harassment at the workplace. In the unorganized sector, women are dismissed from their jobs or not offered extensions to contracts because of expected pregnancies. Recent research has also found that conclusive evidence of competency and commitment to their jobs is not enough to save women from such discrimination. This situation of harassment and discrimination at the workplace is characterized as maternalmobbing. Maternal mobbing is described as “health-harming abusive conducts at work targeting women wishing to have children, pregnant women and mothers”.
A Way Forward: How Progressive Parental Policies Might Help
Encouraging men to take paternity leaves will not just remove the bias surrounding a father’s duty as the caregiver but also normalize women taking maternity leaves without reducing their credibility as an employee. Women’s tendency to return to work after maternity leave and spend more time working is higher if countries have equitable parental policies in place. Women are more likely to work in countries like Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, where gender roles are less rigid – due to the availability of childcare services, paternity leave, and societies built upon gender neutrality where men are more likely to participate in housework and childcare. Subsequently, the brunt of the responsibility for household tasks doesn’t fall to the women. Introducing progressive laws for paternity leave might help catalyse the process of redistributing domestic duties equitably.
Since parental leaves are voluntary, providing men with the option to take them isn’t enough. The problem runs deeper than just adequate laws surrounding parental leaves. The gender stereotypes and prejudice that permeates society prevents men from using these provisions. Some companies in India have their own policies for paternity leave, but men fear judgement from their seniors for ‘slacking off’ and for the fear that it might affect their career advancement. Virat Kohli, an Indian sportsperson, faced a lot of backlash for taking a paternity leave when his child was born, while people lauded men that kept performing while they had children. According to a report by OECD, utilization of paternity leave by new fathers is low. Data from countries like Austria and France that give men the option of benefitting from paternity leave suggests that men account for just 4% of parents taking parental leave, a figure that has remained stagnant for the past decade. Japan offers around 8 months of paid paternity leave, one of the longest in the world, but only around 3% of men actually take it.
Companies can offer flexible work hours, allow a work from home policy, or include options to return to work part time to alleviate fears regarding being out of the loop. An environment which encourages men to contribute to raising their child will ultimately increase women’s productivity in the labour market. Moreover, accessibility to better childcare services, well paid parental leaves and an overall cultural reset that acknowledges the role of women outside the house is needed to fully realize their economic potential.
This article is authored by Hunar Malik, a student of Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar.
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