Taxpayers should bear brunt of maternity leave extension – Simon Busuttil

“As far as I see it, the real debate should be about who is going to carry this burden,” Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said, fully convinced that EU ministers would only accept a maximum 18-week rather than the 20-week extension. “I believe the cost of maternity leave extension should be paid by the taxpayer.”

Busuttil was speaking at a debate organised by the European Parliament office in Malta with the loaded question: ‘Why should I pay for you to have children?’.

Busuttil voted in favour of the 18-week extension, and supported an amendment to cap the pay at 75% in order to reduce the financial burden of the measure. “The package for which I voted for also calls for extending maternity leave rights to cases of adoptions and of taking into account the interests of children with disabilities.”

Even entrepreneur Marlene Mizzi, president of Labour’s business forum, said that while she agreed with the 20-week extension, questions still remained on how it would be implemented.

“Who is going to carry the burden of this extension?” she asked. “If the burden will be carried by the employer, the extension will backfire on the female labour force.”

Mizzi argued that on the other hand, the extension as creating fear in women who have or are trying to have children. “Several women come up to me stating their fear and doubt on this proposal, saying they would not take the extra maternity leave.”

She cited examples of women fearing that employers would replace them if they are absent for 20 weeks.

But Anna Borg, spokesperson for the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations railed against one employer’s admission that he would “no longer employ young women because of their higher chance of getting pregnant.”

An infuriated Borg said this reasoning was the cause of thousands of women not finding employment, who were discriminated against simply because they were women.

“60% of university graduates are female, but then in Malta we have the lowest female participation in the workforce. Government boasts so much he is investing in different sectors, with mothers is he going to be a miser?” Borg said. “Why are we punishing women simply because they can be mothers?”

Childcare educator Marlene Theuma said the extension was necessary for newborns who had a fundamental need to be close to mothers. “Studies show that in reality there is a ‘fourth trimester’. The human body cannot hold a child in its womb for more than nine months, so the mother has to give birth to the child. Because of this, the child has to be close to its mother for its first three months, in a period known as ‘kangaroo care’ or bonding.”

Labour MEP Edward Scicluna, who authored a study arguing in favour of the extension of maternity leave, supported this argument, referring to another study on the relationship between longer leave and this child’s welfare. “Directed at the child’s welfare, the study shows that the child being close to its mother during its first few months help it grow stronger and healthier,” he said.

Doreen Micallef, vice-president of the National Council of Women, also referred to another Canadian study that argues for the benefits maternity leave to employers.

“It is a proven fact that increasing maternity leave will lead to more women entering the workforce. What we need is a partnership between government and both the public and the private sector to divide the burden of this cost,” she said.

“We need to create a system which protects women from being discriminated just because they become mothers.”

Micallef said the extension would lead to “fewer depressive symptoms, improved mental health and a longer duration of breastfeeding… Extending maternity leave should go beyond economic aspects. The extension should encourage the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and should give encouragement and support to employees who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding.”

But when Micallef said that women should be paid their full salary on maternity leave as “a basic fundamental human right”, Marlene Mizzi interjected to say benefits were not human rights.

“A basic human right is for a couple to have children and for those children to grow up in a cared-for environment. The state of the economy should be taken into account when discussing such proposals.”

Malta Business Bureau chief executive Joe Tanti, who has argued against extending maternity leave, said the 20-week period would be detrimental for Malta, as it was one of three EU member states without public funding for employers to support the cost of maternity leave.

“96% of the Maltese businesses are made up of less than 10 people. These companies cannot carry such burdens,” Tanti said, whose MBB claims the extension of parental leave would cost the economy €12 million a year.

“Such costs would negatively affect Malta’s micro-enterprises which suffer disproportionate difficulties in terms of reliance on their staff. This measure would only reduce female participation in the labour market and discourage employers from hiring women.”