MPs unanimously approve extension of paid maternity leave by 10 days for private sector workers

TDT | Manama

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A proposal put forward by four women MPs — Hanan Fardan, Jaleela Alawi, Basma Mubarak and Maryam Al Saiegh — to extend paid maternity leave from 60 to 70 days for private sector workers was approved unanimously by Parliament yesterday.

The legal amendment concerns Article 32 of the Labour Law (Law No. 36 of 2012) and retains the current option for an extra 15 days of unpaid leave.

The leave remains tied to a medical certificate from a recognised health centre or an employer-approved clinic, showing the expected delivery date.

No changes were made to the structure of eligibility, only to the number of paid days.

The MPs’ proposal followed a period of discussion with the relevant parliamentary services committee.

Supporters described it as a practical step towards providing women with a longer window of care, both for themselves and their newborns.

MP Hanan Fardan, one of the proposal’s authors, said the early weeks after birth are not idle days, but filled with return visits to health clinics, vaccinations, and, in some cases, further care when complications arise.

“Scientific studies point to a clear link between extended maternity leave and a lower risk of postnatal depression,” she told the chamber. “We are not asking for indulgence. We are asking for time, time that can improve a child’s health, time that can anchor a mother’s return to the workplace with more strength, not less. Seventy days is not an indulgence. It is recovery, it is care, it is continuity.”

Reality

MP Eman Showaiter also addressed the chamber, focusing on the physical and emotional weight of childbirth, and the state’s role in reckoning with that reality.

“A woman carries a child for nine months,” she said. “Then comes the pain of delivery. Then the nights without sleep. If this doesn’t call for rest, then what does?”

She criticised responses from ministries and employers, which, in her view, reduced the matter to figures and work schedules.

“They measure everything by money, leave, labour, even birth,” she said. “But this is about people. It’s about the woman. It’s about the child. And yes, it concerns the home and the workplace, but also how we reckon care and who we think deserves it.”

The Ministry of Labour, in its written response, questioned the effect of the change. It suggested that some employers may grow hesitant to hire women if leave entitlements continue to grow.

The ministry also expressed concern over the move’s effect on ongoing efforts to align benefits across public and private sectors and said it may set back progress made in integrating Bahraini women into the workforce, particularly as women form the majority of those currently registered as job seekers.

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) shared that view, stating that the current law already balances work and family needs.