21/09: Kenya plans to double Maternity Leave to six months from three if a bill before parliament is passed in a bid to boost the health of mothers and babies.
The new law has been opposed by employer groups who say businesses cannot afford to give women the Maternity Leave time off, even though the second three months would be optional, unpaid leave. But there are strong health reasons behind the proprosal. Kenya has high rates of child malnutrition.
“Doctors advise that mothers should breastfeed exclusively for six months. I want mothers to have this time,” lawmaker Boniface Gatobu who proposed the legislation told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The main motivation for this bill is the health of the mother and the child.”
Kenya has high rates of child malnutrition. The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) found that 61 percent of children under six months were exclusively breastfed, a sharp increase from 32 percent five years earlier.
Employers’ representatives said the new bill would damage the career chances of young women in the workplace.
“If passed, the bill will hurt the chances of employment for women of child bearing age,” said Jacqueline Mugo, executive director of the Federation of Kenya Employers.
“It is not that we do not understand that mothers need time with their children, but it is impractical,” she said. “Our economy cannot sustain such time offs and the bill is counterproductive.”
Work Life Balance
In Nairobi, 42-year-old secretary and mother of two Salome Nang‘oni said she quit her first job because her boss told her to come back to work just seven weeks after she gave birth to her first child.
She said if passed, the new law would help women balance work and domestic life.
“We will get to have more time with our children and also be more comfortable while at work knowing that our young ones got the best possible start to their lives,” she said. “It is such things that will also make employees loyal to their employers.”
In March, India legislated to more than double Maternity Leave, extending fully paid leave to 26 weeks from 12 weeks and ensuring a work from home option for working mothers. In other countries the laws differ. For example, South Africa offers four months leave, but it is not compulsory for the employer to pay employees during this period.
Find out more about Maternity Leave in Kenya
With credit to the Thomson Reuters Foundation