KATHMANDU, Sept 21: A motion of urgent public importance registered in Federal Parliament seeking to extend maternity leave to six months has drawn support from lawmakers, health experts and legal professionals, who say the measure would benefit mothers across professions and help protect maternal and child health.
The proposal was discussed at an interaction on safe motherhood rights organized by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) on Sunday.
Proposer lawmaker Sita (Urmila) Thapaliya said the proposal was aimed at benefiting all mothers, from women breaking stones for a living to government employees. She urged Parliament to view it as a matter of public health and human rights.
“This is not a proposal brought hastily. It is an issue that has been debated and researched for a long time,” she said, calling on Parliament to turn it into law after addressing its impractical aspects.
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Supporting lawmaker Saraswati Lama said the proposal was registered after six months of efforts and had the support of lawmakers. She said discussions were necessary to make it more practical and relevant.
Women constitute 51.2 percent of Nepal’s population, with around five million women aged 20 to 40 in the reproductive age group. The proposal notes that despite women making up significant shares of the civil service, teaching, health, banking and garment sectors, social attitudes that place child-rearing solely on mothers discourage many women from motherhood.
Dr Gauri Pradhan of the Ministry of Health and Food Safety’s Family Welfare Division said six months of maternity leave was necessary for the health of mothers and infants. She said the World Health Organization also recommends six months of maternity leave and noted the health benefits of breastfeeding for the first six months.
Pradhan also said companies marketing breast-milk substitutes could have serious effects on infant health. She argued that men should receive 42 days of leave to care for their partners after childbirth.
Sangita Ghimire, manager of the child-care center at Singha Durbar, said 95 children are currently using the facility, while 665 have benefited from it so far. The center provides care to children aged four months to three years.
Senior advocate Meera Dhungana said even the existing 98-day maternity leave was not fully implemented, forcing some women to seek judicial intervention. Referring to a Constitutional Bench ruling of April 17, she said the ruling had helped women who have been deprived of the entitlement. She argued that at least six months of paid maternity leave was necessary to ensure healthy citizens.
FWLD Executive Director and advocate Sabin Shrestha said the proposed law and the parliamentary motion should be considered separately and stressed that the government must be accountable for implementing legal provisions.
Other lawyers, journalists and women’s rights advocates at the event also called for the proposal to be made simpler and more practical and expressed hope that it would soon become law.
