Dear mommies,
Maternity Leave in Malaysia is 60-days. Is this enough??
The National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) has launched a campaign on March 8 to collect one million signatures in support of its proposal to provide longer maternity leave for women employees in the country.
Its general secretary, J. Solomon, said the campaign, in conjunction with the International Women’s day celebration, was aimed at getting the government to amend the Employment Act 1955 to increase the maternity leave from 60 days to 90 days in line with the practice in other Asean countries.
He said Nube would also invite trade unionists, representatives from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and womens’ organisations, medical professionals, academicians, relevant government agencies and the media for various programmes during the campaign period.
He said Nube believed that an increased entitlement would be the greatest gift to Malaysia’s 5.1 million women employees from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who had been sympathetic to the weaker and underprivileged groups in promoting his 1Malaysia concept.
Statutory maternity leave in Southeast Asia:
Singapore – 112 days (16 weeks)
Thailand – 90 days (3 months)
Cambodia – 90 days
Indonesia – 90 days
Malaysia – 60 days
Some Southeast Asian countries even provide breastfeeding and child care protection. For example a mother in Singapore gets up to 12 months leave to breastfeed and care for her newborn. In Cambodia, companies are obliged to grant a new mother a 30-minute break twice daily to breastfeed her child. Those with more than 100 women workers have to provide nursing rooms and day care centers, with the cost of childcare borne by the company. Indonesian employers meanwhile are required to provide a suitable place for breastfeeding mothers to nurse their children during work hours.
These are but some of the instances of protection for women workers afforded under the ILO convention.
Malaysia, unfortunately, is lagging far behind and there is a pressing need to amend the relevant provision in the Employment Act 1955.
The 60-day paid maternity leave is simply not enough for most Malaysian women.
Why? A women who goes through the delivery of a child suffers not just physically but emotionally and mental too.
Collection of signatures in support of this petition will end on 6th June 2010.
To cast your vote, please visit:
