Proposal in Parliament to Extend Maternity Leave to 6 Months, Benefiting Everyone from Laborers to Employees

October 4, Kathmandu.

It has been stated that the proposal of urgent public importance registered in the parliament, which advocates for extending maternity leave to six months, will benefit mothers from stone crushers to government employees.

In a discussion program on safe motherhood rights organized by the Women, Law and Development Forum (FWLD), proponent Member of Parliament Sita (Urmila) Thapaliya stated that this proposal was brought with the aim of benefiting all new mothers.

She urged that the proposal of urgent public importance registered in the parliament should be viewed in connection with the production of healthy citizens and human rights.

She urged that this proposal, being connected to the health of common citizens, should be taken positively.

‘This is a start; we must move forward by discussing its impractical aspects,’ said MP Thapaliya, ‘This proposal was not brought on a whim; it is a subject that has been debated and researched for a long time, and parliament should give it legal form.’

Proponent MP Saraswati Lama informed that the proposal was registered in the parliament after six months of effort. She stated that all MPs were in favor of the proposal and that it would soon become law. She also said that such discussions would be useful to make the proposal more refined and relevant. MP Lama also stated that some men do not understand women’s problems and it is necessary to make them understand.

51.2 percent of Nepal’s population are women. 8.7 million women aged 15-59 and approximately 5 million women aged 20-40 are in the reproductive age group. Even though women constitute 30 percent in civil service, 27 percent in teaching, 55 percent in health, 25-30 percent in banking, and 18 percent in garment sectors, the mindset that ‘bearing and raising children is solely the mother’s responsibility’ has caused many sisters to shy away from becoming mothers. The registered proposal states that this proposal had to be brought because even though the constitution grants rights, they are not implemented.

For More: Six-month maternity leave