Documents maternity protection 27 results

"The Maternity Leave Directive (92/85/EEC) is concerned with improvements in the safety and health at work of women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding. This report finds that nearly all Member States comply with the directive's provision of granting at least two weeks' mandatory maternity leave before and/or after childbirth; a majority exceed this requirement. And in the majority of Member States, replacement rates stand at 100% of the former salary – at least for a certain period of time. Asked by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament (FEMM) to conduct a study on national regulations regarding maternity leave against the background of the possible revision of the directive, Eurofound drew upon recent information provided by its Network of European correspondents to produce the report."

"Protecting maternity at work has been one of the primary concerns of the International Labour Organization since its foundation in 1919. Along with fundamental human rights treaties, the adoption of the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) and, more recently, the ILO Recommendation concerning National Floors of Social Protection, 2012 (No. 202), have marked the universalization of the right to maternity protection and call for its extension to all women in line with the principle of equal opportunity and treatment between women and men. In the framework of these historical developments, this article presents evidence of how national legislative provisions on paid maternity leave have improved in the light of the principles of international labour standards, although a large majority of women workers are still not adequately protected in case of maternity. The article then addresses patterns of exclusion from maternity protection in law and practice, and concludes by discussing some social protection programmes that have the potential to extend maternity protection coverage and support to meet the care needs of the most vulnerable and which do so with a gender transformative focus."

"Although rarely quantified, the cost of maternity protection in SMEs is widely perceived to be greater than the benefits and to lead to competitive disadvantage. This review suggests that effective maternity protection is not only feasible in SMEs but can offer a range of positive productivity-related outcomes for enterprises. To achieve these positive effects, and for maternity, paternity and family responsibilities to become “a normal fact of business life”, maternity protection and other work-family balance measures need to fit into the practices and interests of SMEs. The report proposes a multi-pronged approach, involving strategies adopted at state, market, community and family levels to combat gender inequality, support SMEs and ultimately achieve wider development objectives."