Proposal gets finance ministry nod
The finance minister, AMA Muhith, approved a proposal on Sunday to increase maternity leave to six months, despite the fact that most female workers now are not receiving the statutory required current minimum of four months.
Finance ministry officials told New Age that now that the minister had signed the file and it was now likely to be sent to Bangabhaban for final approval of the president.
With the president’s approval, a gazette notification will then be published, they added.
On 2nd August 2009, while inaugurating the World Breast Feeding Week at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government had taken steps to increase the duration of maternity leave.
According to existing Public Servants Rules, a female public servant can enjoy maternity leave for four months and a female worker or official can avail of this right twice during the tenure of her service.
The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 stipulates that a female worker can enjoy maternity leave for eight weeks before delivery and another eight weeks after delivery.
Institute of Public Health and Nutrition director Fatima Parveen Chowdhury said that increasing maternity leave duration would allow working mothers to exclusively breast feed their children for 6 months.
At present. mothers are allowed to have an extra two months’ leave without pay, she added.
Working mothers are, however, still facing serious problems with their new born babies as most of the offices in the public and private sector do not provide them with maternity leave.
‘Most private offices do not provide maternity leave properly to their female workers,’ said Kohinoor Mahmood, project coordinator of Women Workers Development project of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there are about 1.21 crore working women in the country among whom more than 97 lakh are working in the informal sector which are outside the labour law.
Garment Workers’ Unity Forum finance secretary Shahidul Islam Shabuj told New Age that in his view less than one per cent of garments factories are now providing female workers with maternity leave with pay in accordance with the Labour Act.
‘Most of the women who work in the garment sector are having their jobs terminated during their pregnancy,’ he said.
So called ‘temporary’ government servants are also being deprived of maternity leave in violation of the Bangladesh Service Rules.
Rule 197(2) of the Bangladesh Service Rules, stipulates, ‘Maternity Leave as admissible under sub-rule (1) may also be granted to a temporary government servant provided that she has been in government service for at least nine months immediately preceding the date of delivery.’
‘Temporary female workers even though they have worked for a long period of time at a particular job so that they are not really permanent do not get their maternity rights. Even the government offices such as Titas, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, Public Works Department and City Corporation do not provide these facilities to these female workers,’ said Kohinoor.
Titas Gas managing director Md. Abdul Aziz Khan admitted to New Age that women working temporarily in Titas Gas do not get maternity leave.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha member (administration and land) said that as the temporary workers were appointed on a daily basis, the government rules for leave including maternity leave were not applicable for them.
Labour experts welcomed the new government initiative but pointed out that only those working women who serve under Bangladesh Service Rules would get the extended leave — excluding those who work under the Labour Act.
They urged the government to provide all working mothers including the informal sector workers with the same improved rights.
