Increase maternity leave to 70 days: MPs propose

A group of MPs have proposed increasing maternity leave for employees in the government sector from 60 to 70 days. The proposal was tabled by MP Fatima Abbas Qassem, MP Bader Al-Dosari, MP Mohammed Al-Sisi, MP Isa Al-Dossari and MP Masouma Abdel Rahim. The current law here allows women employees in the government sector 60 days of maternity leave.

Tabling the proposal, the MPs explained to the council members how Egypt has successfully established a system granting 90 days as maternity leave. The parliamentarians claimed that the current 60 days period is less compared to some other countries, stating that the time has come around to change that in the private sector too. MPs are also seeking to grant two months paid leave for women suffering miscarriage or deliver dead babies, similar to the leave granted to women for normal deliveries.

The proposal submitted last year calls for amending certain articles in Law 36 of the year 2012 that regulates employment in the private sector. The proposal which seeks parity for women also prohibits them from working in the first 40 days following a miscarriage.

MPs discussed it with authorities such as Labour and Social Development Ministry, Health Ministry, the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), Bahrain Chamber for Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and several labour unions in the Kingdom. BCCI, however, rejected the proposal, considering it as “harmful to employers’ interests”.