I read a comment made by Mr. Edward Briku Boadi, the Chairman of the National Labour Commission (NLC) which appeared on Peacefmonline.com titled “No Need to Extend Maternity Leave” on the 28th of November 2015 with disappointment.
He said this during an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a two- day seminar that opened in Accra for social partners of the Labour Commission.
I felt so sorry for female Ghanaian workers who had been betrayed by the chairman of Labour Commission. According to him the three months maternity leave currently being given to female workers was okay and that any increase might force many employers to shy away from engaging women.He emphasized “if the maternity leave is six months, even I, will not employ women”.
In my view, this assertion is unfair and prejudicial to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 183 Recommendation 191. As the chairperson of the Labour Commission he is expected to stay neutral because when there is dispute between social partners, it is the Labour commission who settles it. Looking at the issue of maternity leave, it is of interest to labour including women workers in this country so by his pronouncement, he has discriminated against them.
The ILO Convention
The ILO convention 183 is on maternity protection and maternity leave, it is just one aspect of the five areas of the convention. It was formed to bring about; - Gender equality at the workplace, - Protect women workers at the workplace -Improve the healthcare for mother and child - Improve productivity of labour
WHAT IS MATERNITY PROTECTION?
Maternity protection is meant to apply to all women workers. It is meant to promote gender equality, empower women, improve maternal health, reduce malnutrition and combat HIV/AIDS as stipulated by the MDGs. These have not been met and every sector is invited to come on board to address these which are now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Maternity protection covers five (5) main areas and these are: - Maternity Leave - (Maternity ) Cash benefit - Employment Security - Mother and Child Health Protection
WHY MATERNITY PROTECTION
- Maternity protection is very necessary because reproduction is a function of society hence women workers should not bear the burden alone -Maternity affects equal job opportunities of women at a time when more women of childbearing age join the labour force -Health protection of women and children affects poverty levels -Maternity protection must not serve as population control, and -Non-discrimination
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave is given to a female worker who is pregnant and needs to be given some time off her work to deliver her baby. Maternity leave is one of the stipulations of the ILO Convention 183. It must not be less than 14 weeks. In Ghana, the female worker is given six weeks to delivery and six weeks after delivery. If there are complications the woman is given a few additional days or weeks upon the recommendation of her doctor.
After resumption of work, the woman is supposed to be entitled to a Child Care Centre at her work place where she can keep her six week old baby. Unfortunately, in Ghana there are no such care centres.
This is because, Ghana has not ratified the Convention 183 thus it has not become a policy. Some female teachers for example will carry their babies to school, carry them on their backs or keep them at the back of the classroom while they teach.
Others will engage the services of little girls to take care of their babies under trees while the mothers are teaching. The conditions of service of the GES strictly forbids any teacher to send a baby to school but does not provide for a care centre where the baby can be kept. What about the children who take care of these babies?
What happens to their education? When the babies are about sixteen weeks and above, some mothers will still keep them in the classroom and you can imagine the level of chaos a crawling baby can cause in the classroom.
Some mothers will give the babies to food vendors to take care of. How can their mothers concentrate on their work whilst the babies are under trees in windy or dusty compounds? My dear reader, how safe is the baby either in the classroom or under a tree? Maternity in Ghana has become the woman’s burden but this need not be so, but a societal responsibility.
-Breast Feeding
Women who have resumed duty after maternity leave are entitled to two hours a day to breast feed their babies. The woman can come to work one hour late and take another one hour before closing. This can continue for one year.
In the teaching profession, this is stipulated in the condition of service of the teacher, but majority of head teachers do not adhere to this condition of service for breast feeding mothers. This makes working mothers frustrated and makes the babies to starve during the early stages of their lives.
-Prenatal Care
The provisions in the ILO Convention 183 stipulate that there should be free prenatal and postnatal care for mother and child. In Ghana, because of the National Health Insurance provision, pregnant women are given ‘free’ care but unofficially, health personnel will ask women in labour to provide the following items before they are attended to: Two cakes of geisha soap, one bottle of detol, parazone, delivery mat, mackintosh, drips, one pint of blood, polythene bags etc.
If you have twins or triplets you give more of such items. These items are not given back to the woman even if they are not used. What happens to women who cannot afford? The nurses leave them unattended to. Can the National Health Insurance not absorb the cost of such items to relieve mothers of the unnecessary financial burden?
Maternity Cash Benefit
According to the Convention, cash benefit should be paid to the mother on maternity leave. The cash benefit should not be less than two thirds (2/3) of her previous endings. Where practicable, the benefit should rise to the full amount of previous ending. In Ghana the full salary is paid to the mother.
According to the conditions of service of the teacher, a supply teacher should be employed to teach the class while the female worker is on maternity leave so that the students would not lose anything as a result of the maternity leave.
The Ghana Education Service used to employ a supply teacher but now, the class is left vacant. How can we attain the EFA Goal of Quality Education for all? No wonder that goal has been missed. The argument the employer puts up is ‘where do we get money to pay the extra worker or pay the extra cost if maternity leave is increased’? The answer is simple: From public funds or use part of the Ghanaian social security contributions. Remember that maternity protection is a social responsibility.
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AND NON- DISCRIMINATION
According to the convention, a woman has the right to return to her job or equivalent job after maternity leave. In the Ghana Education Service, the conditions of service stipulate the same conditions but women who teach in the big cities do not enjoy this.
Immediately you go on maternity leave, the woman is asked to get a supply teacher to take her place or she is replaced and when she resumes, it is she who should go round and look for a new place of work. We have to remember that employment protection and non-discrimination provision guarantees the right to return to the same or equivalent job without losing pay or dignity. Maternity therefore must not constitute a source of discrimination in employment, including access to employment. Hence, there is a ban on pregnancy testing.
The burden of proof rests on the employer to prove that any dismissal is not pregnancy related.
HEALTH PROTECTION
In connection with medical protection and health protection, the convention stipulates that pregnant or breastfeeding women should not be obliged to perform work harmful to their health. The measures to avoid such hazardous work are either the elimination of the risk, the adaptation of the job, or transfer to another job without loss in pay or paid leave.
-A pregnant or a breastfeeding woman is not obliged to perform work prejudicial to her health or that of her child.
Why Ghana need to ratify the ILO Convention
Since the ILO Convention was opened for ratification in 2000, only twenty nine countries have ratified the convention with varying number of days for maternity leave ranging from 14 weeks to one full year. Out of these, only four African countries have ratified it. These are Benin, Mali, Morocco and Burkina Faso and they grant fourteen weeks maternity leave.
Ghana has not ratified the ILO convention because it does not meet the standard. No country is allowed to ratify the convention with reservations and since Ghana grants maternity leave for 12 weeks instead of fourteen weeks, it will not be possible unless the maternity leave period is increased.
-The ratification of the ILO convention is very important for labour including women especially because it would affect national laws and institutional policies.
-Ultimately, maternity leave is a social responsibility and protecting maternity is not only a woman’s issue but the whole society.
-When women workers are fully protected by the convention, the health status of the mother and child will be enhanced thereby making her more productive.
-It will promote healthy labour relationship between employees and the employers.
-Promote equality at the workplace
-It will empower women and improve efficiency and effectiveness at the workplace.
Maternity pay is only a short term payment and therefore not a tremendous burden on the system. A feasibility study makes it possible to determine the capacity. It can prove that extending the leave will not lead to bankruptcy. I will urge Trade Unions to continue to fight for the ratification of the convention.
Civil Society Organizations, employers, unions and all stakeholders would have to advocate for Government to ratify the convention for the benefits of all. What is needed is the political will on the part of the government. Let us remember that maternity related discrimination is a major violation of human right.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Trade Unions should organize Social Protection fora on maternity protection to create awareness and get people committed and to promote the implementation of existing legislation 2. Trade Unions need to make Maternity benefits part of Collective Bargaining Agreements 3. Trade Unions to do research on maternity protection to ascertain how much it would cost to increase maternity leave from the present 12 weeks to six months 4. Women’s representation on negotiating teams should be improved and women’s capacity for negotiating maternity protection and child care enhanced by trade unions 5. Child care centres should be provided at the workplace so that working mothers can keep their babies there.
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