Resources on maternity protection

  1. The motherhood pay gap: A review of the issues, theory and international evidence

    06 March 2015

    Evidence that mothers suffer a wage penalty over and above the penalty for being a woman raises concerns not only for gender equality but also for the capacity of societies to manage a sustainable balance between their economic aims of active female participation in paid work and the social aims of providing a fair distribution of income to support the reproduction and rearing of children. These concerns underpin ILO Conventions designed to combat inequality in women’s position in paid employment, especially associated with motherhood status.

  2. Maternity Protection in SMEs: An international review

    20 October 2014

    This report reviews the key international literature on the outcomes of maternity protection in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It also addresses the questions of how, to what extent and under what conditions maternity protection in SMEs can generate positive outcomes for enterprises as well as broader society, considering implications for policy and practice.

  3. Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world

    13 May 2014

    The study reviews national law and practice on both maternity and paternity at work in 185 countries and territories including leave, benefits, employment protection, health protection, breastfeeding arrangements at work and childcare.

  4. Working Conditions Laws 2012

    06 February 2014

    This report provides an international comparative legal information on national working conditions legislation and highlights global and regional trends in over 150 countries. The report covers national legislation in three fundamental working conditions: working hours, minimum wages, and maternity protection. The report aims to provide ILO constituents, policymakers, and researchers with comparative legal information on these issues as they consider legislation and policies that impact on workplaces and their workforce.

  5. Cash transfer programmes, poverty reduction and empowerment of women: A comparative analysis

    23 December 2013

    This comparative analysis aims to help the ILO generate new thinking on ways to improve the impact of cash transfer programmes on women's poverty alleviation and economic empowerment. Key findings relate to selected cash transfer programmes from five countries: Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico and South Africa.

  6. Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development and the decent work agenda

    08 July 2013

    This working paper presents a series of solutions to the challenging social issues. It builds on the conclusions of “Investing in Child Development and Learning: Ensuring Equity in Decent Work and Sustainable Development,” a forum convened by UNICEF and ILO on 28 February 2012. This paper was used to stimulate dialogue and guide discussion during an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Ministerial Roundtable in New York on 3 July 2012. The Roundtable examined the policy challenges posed to policy-makers, the social partners (employers’ and workers’ organizations) and other societal actors in proposing policies in support of working families.

  7. “Meeting the needs of my family too”: Maternity protection and work-family measures for domestic workers

    01 July 2013

    This document is part of a series of briefs on issues and approaches to promoting decent work for domestic workers.

  8. Good practices and challenges on the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156): A comparative study

    05 November 2012

    The working paper presents ten national case studies on Conventions No. 183 and 156. It identifies opportunities for stepping up ratification and implementation of these Conventions, as requested in the 2009 International Labour Conference Resolution concerning gender equality at the heart of decent work. An annex contains an annotated bibliography of 150 relevant publications, making this a complete reference tool for policy-makers and practitioners.

  9. Achieving Millennium Development Goal 5 through Decent Work

    01 May 2010

    For the first time in decades, encouraging progress has been made towards Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), with global maternal mortality rates having fallen by nearly 35 per cent. However, among low-income countries with longstanding high maternal death rates, progress varied considerably and only 23 countries are on track to achieve a 75 per cent decrease in maternal deaths by 2015. Stronger commitments and better cooperation between UN agencies, governments and other development partners are needed to broadly achieve MDG 5.

  10. Maternity at work: A review of national legislation. Second edition

    30 April 2010

    This global report updates the current knowledge of the status and progress of maternity legislation around the world, providing a comprehensive review of national legislative provisions for maternity protection in 167 member States, with a particular focus on how well countries' provisions conform to the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 191).