Extending maternity leave isn’t as progressive as it sounds

The labor-force participation rate for Indian women of working age is less than 20, which puts the country in the company of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. The world average is 47% and China’s figure is 61%. Generous maternity benefits may seem like a good way to attract women to the workplace and retain them, but this thinking is wrong on two counts.

For one, Indian women who are not in the formal workforce are toiling rather than trying to stave off boredom. They fetch water and firewood from afar, care for children, the sick and the elderly, cook food, look after livestock, work their plots without pay, and all contribute to home-based production which is generally attributed to men. The problem with women’s work in India is that it is invisible, unpaid and non-existent rather than under-appreciated.

Another reason is that the policy will actually bring women back to the workplace. This will happen in two ways. First, in an attempt to make it easier for women to balance motherhood and careers, the policy would reinforce the social norm that child-rearing is a woman’s job and that parenting should be done in addition to playing a role of authority distant from men. Contribution should not be expected.

Two, the longer women are away caring for their child, the more likely they are to fall behind partners who do not have these responsibilities. Some research suggests that Scandinavian countries, due to their gender-positive policies, still have relatively few women in senior corporate roles, as the extended maternity leave available to them affects their careers.

It is well established that infants and toddlers need a lot of attention, not just nutrition, to develop mentally and learn social skills. For rat pups, it is a matter of being quite fortunate to be born to a mother given to licking her offspring liberally and often. It turns out that baby rats that haven’t been licked are less sociable and playful than those that have gotten their fair share.

For humans, this translates to parental affection and attachment in the early stages of a child’s development. There is no reason why the burden of all child care should fall entirely on the mother’s shoulders. The father should be involved in this as much as the mother. This requires a policy change that provides paternity leave for new fathers. The mother and the father should take turns taking leave and extend the period for which a newborn baby receives full parental attention and affection.

Paternity leave should be complemented with childcare facilities outside the home. In colonial India, factories were mandated to provide crèches at the workplace for the benefit of women workers. There is no reason why modern service industries should not provide such facilities or pay for childcare, with the expenditure being eligible for a tax credit.

Organized childcare can and should include seniors based on their experience and expertise. This would free up youth to work, secure the knowledge that their children were being cared for, and give seniors agency by turning them from passive subjects of care to providers of a vital social service.

Extending maternity leave without considering these factors could push women out of the workforce or set back their careers. A combination of paternity leave and organized child care facilities outside the home that include elders will work better for children, parents, and society at large.