Call to bring UAE maternity leave up to global standards

Take our poll: The Dubai Women Establishment studied the maternity provisions offered by 39 countries; the UAE ranked 31st.

DUBAI // A women’s organisation is lobbying the Government to support working mothers with more flexible maternity leave.

The Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) prepared a draft policy on maternity leave and breastfeeding in 2009 after researching conditions in other countries, said Shamsa Saleh, chief executive of the local government body.

They submitted the draft to federal authorities and have pushed for its consideration since then, Ms Saleh said.
"It is there now under discussion," she said. "We hope the Government will announce something soon."

DWE studied the length of maternity leave offered in 39 countries. Only eight of them provided less leave than the UAE.

Full-pay maternity leave is 60 days for government employees, while women in the private sector get 45 days if they have worked at their company for more than a year.

“Surprisingly, we found that our maternity leave is not up to the international standards,” Ms Saleh said.

Working mothers have complain-ed for years that it was too short.

Alazne Amezaga, a Spaniard who recently moved to Dubai, took eight months off when she had her first child in the UK.
Ms Amezaga was shocked to find that maternity leave in the UAE could be as short as 45 days.

“My neighbour, she’s got a two-month-old baby and she told me she had to go back to work after 40 days,” she said. “How do you breastfeed your children? How do you bond with them?”

Ms Amezaga said the idea of having to leave a child so soon was “heartbreaking, to be honest”.

A more flexible policy would be welcome, said Dr Gowri Ramanathan, consultant obstetrician and director of foetal medicine at Abu Dhabi’s Corniche Hospital.

She suggested a minimum of three months’ maternity leave with the option of extending it to six.

“It actually does make a huge difference in enabling women to remain in the workforce, more than anything,” Dr Ramanathan said.

When she gave birth to her son, who turns four next week, she combined her maternity leave with annual leave so she could take two and a half months off.

“It was a challenge and it was difficult,” Dr Ramanathan said.

The biggest consequence of new mothers returning to work early is that they stop breastfeeding, she said. “That’s the last thing you want women to do.”

Ms Saleh said she could not discuss the details of the draft because it was awaiting approval.

But she said the DWE recommends a policy that would consider different situations and offer a fair period of leave.
"We consider some circumstances that do not exist now in the law," Ms Saleh said.

“If the mother has twins, what about the maternity? If the mother has a premature child, what about the maternity?”

In its first phase, the policy would apply to public-sector workers. But if it is introduced, the DWE will recommend expanding it to the private sector.

The organisation first lobbied government departments about the draft in 2010 and last year, she said. It was sent to the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources for review.

“Now we are still lobbying for it,” Ms Saleh said.

She said one of the draft’s biggest supporters was Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, president of the organisation and daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and the Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikha Manal posted about the draft on Twitter yesterday.

"We hope that this legislation will come into effect as it will help strike a balance between family and work to the benefit of both working women and their children," she said.
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