90-day maternity leave won’t raise birth rate, say experts

PETALING JAYA: Will Prime Minister Najib Razak’s proposal in Budget 2018 to increase paid maternity leave in the private sector to 90 days from the current 60 help to increase the country’s falling fertility rate?

That is the question that a report in Today Online highlighted in response to chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin’s announcement on Oct 31 that the fertility rate in 2016 was the lowest since 1963.

Uzir had cited the Vital Statistics Malayia 2017 report, which stated that the fertility rate per woman aged 15 to 49 in 2016 was 1.9 babies, a decrease from 2.0 babies in 2015.

“The total fertility rate in Malaysia has been below the replacement level of 2.1 babies, which is the average number of babies born per woman throughout her reproductive life and been insufficient to replace herself and her partner,” he had said in a statement.

According to the Singapore news portal, experts said while the measure was long overdue, it would still fall short of the intended result.

“The 90-day maternity leave and similar incentives are simply not enough to offset the costs incurred by raising a child as well as the aspiration to live a certain lifestyle,” Universiti Malaysia’s gender studies expert, Lai Suat Yan,was quoted as saying.

However, Kuala Lumpur-based Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie believes that cost is not the only issue that couples considered when starting a family.

“While the financial capacity to raise a child is important, there are also other factors such as the availability of child care facilities and the impact of having a child on a woman’s career advancement,” Lee told Today Online.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim had previously called for employers in the private sector to support Najib’s proposal as it would help make their female staff more dedicated once they knew their welfare was being well-looked after.

In tabling Budget 2018, Najib had also announced added benefits for civil servants, during and after pregnancy.

“Women who are at least five months pregnant will be allowed to leave work an hour earlier while husbands will be accorded the same privilege if their work locations are in close proximity to each other”

“Maternity leave will be increased from 300 to 360 days throughout service with a maximum of 90 days a year.”

Also supporting the proposal for private sector employees was Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham) secretary-general Ivy Josiah, who said that such a move will make Malaysia a more progressive society.

“Some 120 out of 196 nations provide paid maternity leave and Malaysia should go one step further and make it mandatory for the private sector to increase maternity leave,” the women’s rights activist was quoted as saying by Today Online. -FMT