‘Extend 12-week maternity period’
The 12 weeks maternity protection that is stipulated in Section 55 of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) is not enough for women and children. According to the Head of Women and Youth of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Ghana, Madam Christine Mercy Tetteh, nutritionist and paediatricians had all advised for mothers to perform exclusive breastfeeding on their new born babies in order promote the growth of children.
Advertisement
“If the experts are saying that six months breastfeeding is the ultimate then why is our Labour Act projecting three months maternity protection for our women”, she asked.
Symposium
Madam Tetteh was speaking at a symposium in Accra yesterday to mark International Women’s Day which was marked on March 8, 2016 on the theme “Parity”.
The event was put together by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) in Ghana, the Domestic Services Workers’ Union (DSWU), the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) and ICU Ghana.
It was on the theme, “Strengthening Maternity and Paternity Protection for All: The Role of Stakeholders”.
Maternity protection which has been a core concern of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) since it was formed in 1919.
It is to ensure that women’s economic activities do not pose risks to their health and that of the child, and to ensure that women’s reproductive function does not compromise their economic and employment security.
More room for improvement
Madam Tetteh who is also the National Coordinator of the IUF Women’s Project said most people think that women go through pregnancy and for that matter labour alone “but I am here to announce to you that pregnancy in some cases is carried by the two”.
Other Trending Stories
She said in the last decades, globalisation had changed the world and Ghana was no exception such that the educative radio and outreach programmes by some counsellors and work done by the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection had helped to change a lot of men’s attitude towards women and the home.
However, she said, there was still room for improvement as some of “our men have not woken up to this call”.
She, therefore, expressed the hope that the symposium would help to educate the men and women on the need to extend the maternity protection period and its correlation with children and the unborn.
Collaborative effort
The General Secretary of ICU-Ghana Mr Solomon Kotei in his address said the dual and sometimes triple role played by women in a nation’s scheme of activities had not yet been accorded the full recognition it deserved.
He said women by all indications were nation builders and as such there was the need for all stakeholders to guarantee a protection for maternity policies by employers.
Employers must support breastfeeding
Making a presentation on the ILO Convention 183, recommendations 191 and the importance of breastfeeding, an Infant and Young Child Feeding Consultant, Ms Veronica Gomez, said resuming woken was a major reason for mothers stopping breastfeeding before the internationally recommended duration of six months exclusive breastfeeding.
Therefore, she said supporting breastfeeding at workplace had major health and economic benefits for the child, mother, employer and society.
“Employers that support breastfeeding at the workplace report lower health care cost, less absenteeism and higher productivity”, she said.
Additionally, she said daily breastfeeding breaks were recommended by the ILO Convention 183 to allow mothers to breastfeed while the ILO Recommendations 199 specifies that time was allocated for daily nursing breaks.
Recommendation 191 item 9 states that “Where practicable, provision should be made for the establishment of facilities for nursing under adequate hygienic conditions at or near the workplace”, she said
Ms Gomez said that could be in a form of a room for expressing and storing breast milk or a crèche at or near the work place.
Maternity protection at work
Explaining the concept of maternity protection at work, the National Programme Officer for ILO, Mr Akwasi Sarpong, said the concept aimed to ensure that women’s economic activities do not pose risks to their health and that of their child, and to ensure that women’s reproductive function does not compromise their economic and employment security.
Advertisement
“Maternity protection at work is for all women, in the formal and informal economy. This includes paternity and parental leave”, he said.