Maternity Benefit Act 1961: Progress, Gaps and the Motherhood Penalty in India

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (amended in 2017), strengthened India’s maternity protection framework by extending paid leave and introducing childcare provisions.

• Despite being globally progressive, gaps remain between legal intent and the lived realities of working mothers.

Reasons For the Act To be Considered as Progressive

• Top-Tier Global Standing: The Act provides 26 weeks of paid leave, making India’s maternity benefits the third-highest in the world, surpassed only by those of Canada and Norway.
• Comparison with Major Economies: Unlike India, the United States does not mandate federal paid maternity leave.
• Civil Service Provisions: Women in the formal government sector receive up to 730 days of Child Care Leave (CCL) during service, with full pay in the first year and 80% in the second year.

The “Leaky Pipeline” and “Motherhood Penalty”

• Leaky Pipeline: Women enter the workforce in significant numbers but gradually drop out before reaching leadership positions.
• Motherhood Penalty: Career breaks due to childbirth often lead to slower promotions, wage stagnation, and fewer professional opportunities.
• Role Conflict: Women experience tension between expectations of being ideal caregivers and committed professionals.

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Emotional and Workplace Realities

• Internal Guilt: Many women return to work with anxiety and guilt over balancing professional and maternal roles.
• Perceived Ineffectiveness: Workplace biases assume returning mothers are less productive or less committed.
• Career Stagnation: Important assignments are often reassigned during maternity leave, affecting long-term growth and leadership prospects.

Sectoral Gaps and Unintended Consequences

• Informal Sector Exclusion: Nearly 90% of India’s workforce is informal, where maternity benefits remain inaccessible or poorly enforced.
• Hiring Bias: Employers, particularly small firms, may avoid hiring young women due to the financial burden of mandatory paid leave.

Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities

• Creche Mandate: Establishments with 50 or more employees must provide creche facilities under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, but compliance remains weak.
• Care Economy Potential: There is an opportunity to train unskilled or semi-skilled women as professional nannies and caregivers. This creates a “win-win” situation where mothers can work, and other women gain employment

Societal Expectations and Emerging Trends

• Burden of “Doing it All”: Social norms expect women to manage career, household responsibilities, and childcare simultaneously.
• Rise of DINK Trend: Due to the difficulty of balancing career and motherhood, more couples are choosing the “Double Income, No Kids” (DINK) lifestyle.

Way Forward

• Shift from “Maternity Penalty” to “Maternity Bonus”: There is a need to treat motherhood as a social investment, not a productivity loss.
• Strengthen Childcare Infrastructure: The Institutions should ensure affordable, functional creches through strict enforcement of statutory provisions and support from public–private partnerships (PPP).
• Managerial Empathy: The organisations should promote flexible work policies and sensitisation to prevent career stagnation.
• Shared Parenting: Paternity leave should be expanded to encourage equal caregiving responsibilities.
• Extend Coverage: Efforts should be made to bring informal-sector women into social insurance and maternity support mechanisms.

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Conclusion

The Maternity Benefit Act can achieve substantive impact only when supported by workplace reforms, progressive social norms, and accessible childcare infrastructure. Legal entitlement must translate into lived equality for working mothers.

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