Bill to extend Maternity leave, introduce Paternity leave before Ghana's Parliament
The Private Member's Bill, is being sponsored by the Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency, Francis Xavier Sosu.
A Bill to extend Maternity leave and introduce Paternity leave is currently before the Parliament of Ghana.
The Private Members Bill, being sponsored by the Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency, Francis Xavier Sosu, is seeking the amendment of the Labour Act, 2003(Act 651) to extend the current Maternity leave regime from three to four months.
Additionally, the bill proposes an additional two weeks of maternity leave for mothers who undergo caesarean section and have stillbirths and multiple births.
Known as the Labour(Amendment) Bill, 2023 or the Parental Leave for All, this Bill is also seeking the introduction of a paid paternity leave of a minimum of seven days and up to four weeks for men.
Moreover, the bill proposes an additional two weeks for such men whose spouses go through caesarean section, stillbirths or multiple deliveries.
The new Bill is aimed at allowing new mothers to have adequate time for extended breastfeeding of their newborn babies and also to recover fully before returning to work.
For the men, the Paternity Bill will enable them to take care of their wives and assist them with domestic chores.
The memorandum of the Bill indicates that even though Ghana's Act 651 addresses scenarios where women underwent CS or gave birth to multiple babies, it is silent on the situation where women, unfortunately, lose their babies during pregnancy or delivery.
Also, it makes reference to the International Labour Organisation's maternal mortality standard of 70 out of 100, 000 live births which Ghana’s number goes way out of.
It adds that due to the above, the ILO recommends the pushing of maternity leave to six months to allow for exclusive breastfeeding by mothers.
