The Future of Work Podcast

Hello everybody and welcome to the ILO's Future  of Work podcast. I'm Khadija Youssouf-Diallo your host

for today. This year is the 25th anniversary of  the adoption of the ILO Maternity Protection

Convention. On this occasion, the ILO issued  a new paper called "Closing the gender gap in

paid parental leaves". The Convention mandates a  minimum of 14 weeks of maternity leave with its

Recommendation number 191 encouraging extension  to 18 weeks. It calls for adequate income security

and maternal and child health protection through  collective financing. Oman has been leading on this

in the Arab region. It has adopted paternity leave  and has put in place an innovative financing model

to support both maternal and paternal leave. Now  I'm joined today by Laura Addati, our Maternity

protection and work family specialist at the ILO  Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion unit and

my homonym Khadija Al Mawali our Omani government  specialist. Laura and Khadija, welcome to

the podcast. Thank you Khadija. To start  off with Laura, at the global level there is a

disparity of fve months which is like 20.5 weeks of  paid parental leave. Tell us what is the current

state of affairs in the world on paid paternity  leave? The ILO brief finds that in 2024 the gender

gap in paid parental leave was on average five months  across the 186 countries for which the ILO has

data. This gap measures the difference between  the total paid maternity and parental leave

available to mothers and the total paid paternity  and parental leave that is reserved for fathers by

law. So this gap is explained by the fact that  women are entitled to around 25 weeks of paid

parental leave while men get just 2.2 weeks. So  the gaps reflects the way the laws on maternity,

paternity and parental leave have progressed  over the years. What we find on the one hand

there has been improvement on maternity protection.  Since the adoption of Convention 183 on maternity

protection 25 years ago, the average duration of  paid maternity leave globally has increased

from around 13 weeks to 18 weeks according to the  Recommendation. So we see a clear and positive

impact of international labour standards in  national laws. But so far only 44 countries have

ratified the Convention and many still fall short  of these minimum standards in both law and

practice. For instance, some categories of workers  are often excluded. For instance, self-employed,

migrant, domestic workers, and workers in informal  economy. And this leaves almost 650 million women

without adequate maternity protection globally.  So, ratifying and implementing Convention 183 is

essential. Then when we look at paternity leave,  we also find progress. But this progress has been

much slower. Today 121 countries recognize  the right to paternity leave and 105 make

it paid. Think that only in the last ten years  37 countries have introduced paternity leave

which is a very important progress. However,  its duration remains too low and on average is

only ten days of paternity leave. Often also it's  too low paid or optional while maternity leave

is compulsory and this discourages fathers from  using it. So all countries face challenges but

with the right policy design and also smart  investments, as the policy brief shows, it's

possible to ensure that every mother and father  has access to parental protection. Thank you

so much Laura and I think now we would like  to understand a little bit more on the context

of more regional level with the Middle East or  North Africa. Could you walk us through the state

of affairs on paternity leave there? At regional  level, when we compare the situation of parental

leave entitlements for mothers and fathers, the  gender gap in paid parental leave reveals three

main situations. Countries that display very large  gender gaps that are usually driven by a lack of

recognition of fathers' individual rights to  paternity and parental leave. For instance,

this is the case in regions such as Europe and  Central Asia where the average gender gap is

over 15 months. In this region, both mothers and  fathers receive long and generous paid parental

leave. And these are also the countries where  fathers gets the longest paid parental leave, on

average 18 weeks. However, the entitlements  remain unbalanced and this is due often to

very long parental leaves only for mothers. So  this results in perpetuating traditional roles

around caregiving and also disadvantages women in  the labour market. Then we have a second group of

countries where they display a short gender gap.  But this is explained by limited entitlements for

both parents and this is the case for the Arab  states region. The ILO has data for 11 countries

and here the gender gap in paid parental leave  is the shortest in the world: 11 weeks. This is

explained by the fact that women receive a little  bit more than 11 weeks and fathers only two days.

So the gap is short but this is because  both mothers and fathers receive inadequate

parental leave and we haven't registered any  ratification of Convention 183 in the region. But

on the positive side we have the experience  of Oman, which has expanded maternity leave. We

will hear about that, also introduced paternity  leave and I think one important design feature

of these reforms is that they are funded through  compulsory social insurance, which is essential for

all leave policies to prevent unfair treatment  against parents. And finally, we have a third

category of countries that have provided leave  policies to support equality between women and men

in caregiving but also work. And what they do they  reserve a substantial portion of leave for fathers

and also guarantee adequate maternity and parental  leave to mothers, which is essential, of course, to

protect women's role in maternity, child birth and  protect also the health of children. So these

countries really have almost closed the parental  leave gap. Some have completely closed it like

Spain. And this happens because they provide equal  and individual non-transferable rights to both

parents. And these countries include for instance  Belgium, France, Japan, Portugal, and the Republic

of Korea. Khadija, could you walk us through how  parental leave works in Oman today, the recently

adopted legislation on paternity leave, and who  benefits from it? Thank you for your invitation

and of course very glad to share Oman's experience  in this important context. Kicking off the answer

with the new legislation which is the 2023  legislation, which has significantly modified the

maternity and paternity leave framework in Oman.  Both leaves are stipulated in labour law which has

introduced the formal period of entitlement:  seven days for paternity and 98 days for maternity.

Also the complimentary social protection law  which created the funding and administration

structure by social protection fund making the  system financially sustainable and inclusive.

This reformation reflects the progression movement  of Oman in the GCC and we can say it is counted as

a historic milestone in the region as well. For the  leave allowance actually is paid to the insured

father or mother at rate of 100% of the full wage  without maximum cap after of course deducting the

insured father or mother's contribution. I'd like  to say that according to the social protection

law the provisions apply to all Omanis working  in various sectors, military or private etc,

including different type of contracts, and all  non-Omanis employed in any administrative unit

or private sector. We are wondering also what  motivated Oman to take this step to adopt this

new legislation? Actually, Oman adopted the new  parental leave legislation to modernize its law,

promote gender equality, support working  families and of course align with the

international standards. The collective financing  model was chosen in fact to spread the cost across

employer through the social protection fund. This  means that shifting the full cost burden away from

employer and making it more sustainable. This  of course will reduce the financial burden on

individual companies and smaller businesses. Not  only this but also providing health prevention to

the mother and child, enhancing the involvement  of Omani women in the labour market. Last but not

least, unite the insurance system in Oman to  be ranked among the top countries in social

insurance. The report makes a strong case  for paternity leave, which is actually great,

saying it's essential for gender equality at  work that when fathers share responsibilities,

it boosts women's participation and earnings and  that employers also benefit from a more stable

and talented workforce. From your perspective,  Laura, why does this matter so much? And what

should we be keeping in mind as we look into  the future? Globally, women perform three times

more unpaid care work per day than men. And this  inequality, as you said Khadija, at home, translates

into inequalities for women in labour force, wages,  and career progression. This is why last June the

ILO adopted the resolution concerning decent  work in the care economy which calls Member

States to rebalance paid and unpaid work between  men and women, promote women economic inclusion

and autonomy beyond care and challenge social  norms and gender stereotypes around caregiving

roles. So parental leave policies need to be  designed with this objective in mind. They need

to be adequately paid, parent specific, as we said,  and funded through social protection, as the case

of Oman, and need also to be grounded in social  dialogue: workers' and employers' voice included

with governments. This is important because we  see that when fathers have access to well-paid

and non-transferable leave and also receive the  support they need for this caregiving role,

especially at work where there is still stigma  around men taking leave, fathers are more likely

to take paternity and parental leave. And  as you said, this has a ripple effect on

women's outcomes in the labour force. The so-called  maternity pay penalty is reduced and also families

benefit from great financial stabilities if both  parents can work. And fathers win too because

they gain caregiving skills, closer bonds with  their children. And children too are healthier and

display better development when they're young, but  also later in life when fathers are involved. And

these changes shifts social norm around caregiving  roles. And as you rightly said, employers benefit

too because when leave entitlement are predictable  and financed collectively, like in the case of Oman,

companies can plan better, can retain staff,  attract new talent and this is especially the

case for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises  which face more challenges. For instance,

we see in the case of Spain that has equalized at  16 weeks for each parent, parental leave, fathers' uptake

has increased and this has normalized their  caregiving role but also created more balanced

workplaces. And looking at the bigger picture Khadija, how are these policies shaping life in Oman?

The impact of maternity and paternity leave  can be observed in different levels, at the

levels of individuals, employers, the society and  Oman entirely. Actually one of the impacts is

paid maternity leave or paternity leave improves  the caregiving and sharing the responsibilities

between the mother and father, and this of course  will affect the society by strengthening the

bonding between the families. Also introduction  of paid paternity leave encourages fathers to be

involved in the society. Equal benefits for Omani  and non Omani workers which reduce inequalities.

Also there are effects on employer such as social  protection fund separate costs, so easing financial

burden on employers. Also policies promote  gender inclusive workplace culture. As we

know like smaller businesses may face challenges  with added costs and administration. So having the

maternity or paternity leave for all sectors and  companies will help and ease the businesses.

Oman sets a regional benchmark with progressive  social insurance reforms boosting productivity,

like you know maternity leave and paternity leave  policies often lead to increased employee loyalty.

Also encouraging investment as you know like  a gender equal family friendly and labour market

is attractive to international investors and  businesses looking to operate in a region where

employees' rights and welfare are prioritized. And  that listeners will be all for today's episode.

Thank you very much Khadija Al Mawali and Laura Addati for joining us today and for sharing these insights.

It's clear listening to both of you that the  overall discussion on paternal leave is not

over yet. More needs to be done to achieve the  Convention goals such as fairer distribution of

paid paternity leave worldwide, which will  benefit fathers, mothers and governments.

This requires further action on a political  level and also on a grassroots level. But thanks

to Oman's experience and also what Laura  has shared with us, I think we have some good

practices for everybody. Thank you also to our  listeners. You can also get updates on the ILO's

work by following our social media channels  on Facebook, LinkedIn, Tik Tok and X @ilo and

@ilo.org on Instagram. Until next time for another  episode of the Future of Work podcast. Goodbye.