Find out more about the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961

Six Months: Too Long?

High Court Advocate, V.K. Wasnik, who specialises in Labour Law and represents employers, believes that if this amendment is made to the Maternity Benefit Act there will initially be friction. After all, six months is a long time to stay away from one's job.

"The important thing is that employers embrace the legislative change. If employers do not discriminate against their pregnant female employees, that will solve the problem," he explains.

Employers are beginning to see their employees as assets so in order to retain them they will have to accept such changes.

Glass Ceiling

There's no denying that there is some amount of glass ceiling that women experience in the corporate sector. So will this only increase with the added leave that women will be entitled to?

"Women drop out."

An HR Head of a leading telecom company says that in his experience a lot of educated women choose to drop off, as they get older instead of moving up the value chain. Women prefer to move on from corporate roles to creative fields like interior design, fashion design, journalism etc. So in essence, very few women actually break through the so called 'glass ceiling'.

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But would he be reluctant to absorb a woman into a high position in his company?

"Well, a woman's most productive years are also her biologically productive years. In today's corporate environment, I can't afford for someone to take a three-week vacation let alone a six-month maternity leave. It is bound to pose a problem."

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"The corporate sector will have to accept the six-month maternity leave legislation because it is law. But to me, it is stupid unless of course, medical practitioners have a strong justification," he adds.