I am aware that the maternity leave Report has been voted on in one of your committees. Could you explain what this is aiming to achieve and what is the current situation within the Parliament?

The proposal as drafted by the Commission has three main aims. These consist in increase the number of women in the labour market, decreasing segregation and eliminating wage differences between men and women. The current view is that a substantial increase in the amount of women in the workforce is necessary in order to address the issue of an aging society as well as become more competitive globally. It can be argued that this can be achieved by targeting and transforming the laws that regulate maternity leave.

One of the main issues of contention included in this report is the extension of the minimum period of maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks. Maltese Law is also consistent with European Law on this issue and accordingly Maltese women are provided with 14 weeks of paid leave that are to be divided before and after the delivery of the child. The Report that was drafted by MEP Rovana Plumb suggests that maternity leave should be extended by a further 2 weeks to total 20 weeks.

I feel that by protecting women during pregnancy we are not only encouraging tackling the issues discussed above but we are protecting the traditional concept of the family. In the past having the woman as the primary caregiver and staying home to provide for the children was the order of the day, nevertheless this is not the case anymore. Women are now playing an important role in the workforce, even when it comes to occupying high level managerial posts. In addition it is normally not economically viable for a family to have only one breadwinner. I am of the opinion that for these reasons couples that are not sufficiently protected might choose not to have children which would have a negative social impact on society.

The problem is more complex than it initially appears. Firstly there is the economic burden that will be placed on the business sector in order to comply with these new rules - as it is the employer that will have to foot the bill. This could be quite detrimental to certain businesses especially SMEs - even more so during this time of economic turbulence. If such an extension is to be introduced this must be done gradually over a number of years to minimise any potential negative burden on employers. In addition while I feel that further benefits are justified it is difficult to understand what repercussions this will have on the employment prospects of women. Will these rights discourage employers from selecting women due to the potential financial burden? This would be illegal, but still difficult to prove. Some argue that the only way to eliminate potential gender discrimination would be to increase the rights of men by ensuring that they would also be entitled to substantial paternity leave. In this scenario the possibility for gender discrimination due to potential financial loss arising from pregnant workers would be removed. It would also reflect the reality in contemporary society that domestic duties are being shared more equally between men and women.

I am in favour of legislation that tackles the issue of paternity leave in the EU. However further research is required in this area and thorough impact assessments need to be carried out. In addition the current proposal concerns the health and safety of pregnant women and therefore it is not the right place for this kind of legislation. This having been said there were a number of MEPs who sought to include a clause related to paternity leave in the Report and the current version as adopted last week includes this clause. This however only shows that MEPs will welcome initiatives in this direction in the future and will have no practical implications as yet.

The proposal is meant to aid women to reconcile their work and private life. This should be a priority within the EU if we are going to ensure that the family unit remains sustainable. Care must be taken however to ensure that the legislation that is decided upon does not have the contradictory effect of making women increasingly less attractive to the potential employer. As it stands the EP is in agreement with the Commission and is recommending that maternity leave be extended to 18 weeks. We must however wait and see what agreement with the Council will be reached on this sensitive yet important issue.

David Casa is a Nationalist MEP

www.davidcasa.eu