Despite long maternity leave, Viet Nam is left behind in paternity protection

HANOI (ILO News) – Viet Nam’s maternity leave is on a par with the developed world but the nation offers no paternity leave whereas nearly half of the countries globally encourage involvement of fathers around childbirth, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In its report, Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and practices across the world, the ILO compares national laws in 185 countries and territories with the most recent ILO standards.
The report, which is launched in Geneva today, showed a positive shift in length of leave. No country has cut maternity leave length since 1994.

With the 2012 Labour Code increasing maternity leave from four to six months, maternity leave period in Viet Nam is among the longest in Asia where only five countries meet or exceed the 14-week ILO standard (Mongolia 120 days of leave, Bangladesh 16 weeks, Singapore 16 weeks and China 14 weeks).

Interactive map: Maternity leave duration per country

“When leave is too short, mothers may rightly give preference to the protection of the health of the child and that of their own and they might not feel ready to return to work and drop out of the workforce,” said ILO Viet Nam Director Gyorgy Sziraczki. “But very long periods may also damage women’s attachment to and advancement in paid work and run the risk of discrimination against female workers during recruitment, pregnancy and leave. It’s a two-edged sword!”

Like Viet Nam, 58 per cent of countries and territories now finance maternity leave cash benefits through social security whereas one quarter stipulate that payment during leave should be covered entirely by the employer.

Upswing in paternity support

Men in Viet Nam are not entitled to any paternity leave, which has become more common in the world, but the draft revised Law on Social Insurance opens a hope for working fathers.

By 2013, at least 78 out of 167 countries provided some form of leave that fathers can use around the birth of a child. In comparison, paternity leave existed in only 40 of 141 countries with available data in 1994.

Leave provisions for fathers are most common in developed economies, Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

“Recognition of men’s right to parenthood, as well as their responsibility to share unpaid care and household work, will help to break down traditional social attitudes and promote greater gender equality at work and at home,” said Mr Sziraczki.

In the latest move, the draft revised Law on Social Insurance, which will be brought to discussion at the upcoming National Assembly meeting later this month, introduces paternity leave in Viet Nam for the first time.

Interactive map: Paternity leave duration per country

If the draft gets a green light from lawmakers, male workers are entitled to five to seven full paid working days depending on whether their wives give a normal childbirth or take childbirth operation.

The draft law also allows adoption leave, which means workers adopting a child of under six months of age are entitled to take leave until the child is full six months old. Giving adoptive parents access to the protection system is recommended by ILO standards and already included in national laws in many countries worldwide.

Exclusions from protection

“While our findings suggest that many countries have adopted the principles of maternity protection and support workers with family responsibilities in their laws, lack of protection in practice remains one of the major challenges for maternity and paternity at work today,” said the report’s co-author, Laura Addati, Maternity Protection and Work-family Specialist from the ILO’s Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch.

Around the world, most women, numbering around 830 million workers, still do not have adequate maternity protection in terms of leave and income security around childbirth.

Almost 80 per cent of these women work in Africa and Asia where some groups of workers are excluded from protection in law and in practice. This is often the case for self-employed, migrant, domestic, agricultural, casual or temporary workers, and indigenous and tribal peoples.

In Viet Nam, maternity leave provisions can only cover nearly 30 per cent the workforce and the predominance of the informal sector, including agriculture sector, remains a problem for the enforcement of laws.

The ILO has three maternity protection conventions adopted in 1919, 1952 and 2000. These conventions stipulate the prevention of exposure to health and safety hazards during pregnancy and nursing, entitlement to paid maternity leave, maternal and child health and breastfeeding breaks, and protection against discrimination and dismissal in relation to maternity, as well as a guaranteed right to return to work after maternity leave.

Although 66 countries of 185 countries and territories have committed to at least one of the three conventions, Viet Nam is not one of them. But the provisions of the Labour Code and the draft revised Social Insurance Law, coupled with other measures, are expected to lead to the ratification and implementation of ILO conventions to protect the health and well-being of Vietnamese mothers and their children.

“Safeguarding women’s employment and income security during and after maternity is also essential to ensure women’s access to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace, and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment,” Mr Sziraczki said.

See full report and charts here.