The second half of the budget session starts immediately after Women’s Day ie. March 9th, and every woman in India is hoping & praying for the amended maternity bill to be passed. But the news seems to suggest otherwise, looks like yet again this bill will be pushed to the next session. Is that even possible, the week when every brand and organization in India would be celebrating women & motherhood, our parliamentarians will give it a miss.
Jincy Varghese, was elated to hear about the amendment to the maternity leave, when she entered her second trimester and hoped by the time she delivered she would be availing this much needed benefit. The washed out November session disappointed her, and she started an online petition on change.org . Her petition has got signed by around 17,300 other mothers who are waiting for this bill. Seems like they will all have to wait much longer, Jincy delivered recently and feels she might have to quit her job as she really wants to be with her baby for the first six months.
ProEves, a childcare and parental support firm, ran a survey across 5000+ mothers on what are their expectations with respect to the amended Maternity Bill. Around 80% of the women want the bill to be passed in the coming budget session, remaining 10% felt there was an urgent need for a special session for passing the bill. The others insisted on the bill being passed in the next few months but not beyond this year.
Gender Diversity has been one of the most discussed topics for corporate India over the last few years. Companies have been in news for introducing practices and programs to attract women and arrest the leaking pipeline. But Gender representation in Corporate India is stuck at 20% overall and falls further at senior levels. 6 months of maternity leave and daycare tie-up are the two real game changing policies in the amended bill that can help companies arrest the leaking pipeline.
Based on ProEves survey,around 70% of the working women leave their careers citing childcare as the main reason but less than 20% of surveyed companies provide daycare arrangements. A clear majority of 75% women mentioned Onsite daycare/daycare tie-up as a requirement from employers. “With the implementation of the amended Maternity Benefits Act more companies will be mandated to embrace this much needed work benefit for not only moms but the working parent” says Ketika Kapoor, co founder ProEves.
ProEves did a recent dipstick to further understand if companies have implemented the maternity bill amendments instead of waiting for the parliament’s final approvals. While some companies like Loreal, Jabong, Deutsche India have implemented the 6 months maternity leave, most companies are waiting for the bill. Around 20% of the surveyed companies have been flexible with respect to Maternity Leave, with some companies mentioning that they have extended 3 months of paid leave (by adding another 3 months of work from home or unpaid leave) to somewhat extend the convenience of 6 months maternity leave to the employees, the majority is yet to do anything. While there has been some movement on the maternity leave benefit, most are confused to go ahead with the Daycare benefit as there is limited clarity on provisions required for this benefit states Divya Agarwal, co-founder ProEves.
In the hope of the amended maternity bill, lots of expecting mothers still wait. We hope the wait ends soon.
About the Study
ProEves Gender Balance India 2016 Survey is a comprehensive study across sectors with participation from 47 leading companies, that goes beyond understanding of current representation across levels. It studies the enabling policies and programs that aim to attract, retain and develop women. The same organizations were reached out for the dipstick survey.
About ProEves
ProEves is a childcare and parental support organization that works with individuals and companies to provide verified childcare support and drive a gender balanced ecosystem. ProEves also runs a facebook community of women called “Happy Moms raise Happy Kids” which is used for all their community surveys.