2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
Are Family Friendly Policies that Friendly?
A Look at the Impact of Maternity and Parental Leaves
on the Status of Women at Work
Jean-Luc Grosso,
McDavid Professor of Business Administration, University of
South Carolina Sumter
Teresa L. Smith,
Julian T. Buxton Professor of Business Administration, University of South Carolina
Sumter
Sheryl Grosso,
University of South Carolina Sumter
June 22-24, 2008
Oxford, UK
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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
Are Family Friendly Policies that Friendly?
A Look at the Impact of Maternity and Parental Leaves
on the Status of Women at Work
ABSTRACT
Maternity or parental leave is a prerequisite for many women’s full participation in
the labor force. Working wives and mothers still have to juggle numerous roles with
considerable difficulty and stress, and few countries provide adequate support for maternity
leave and family-friendly workplaces for workers with family responsibilities.
It is true that most countries have laws guaranteeing women maternity or parental
leave benefits and, typically, women receive all or part of their wages during the covered
period. These wages are usually paid by the state’s social security systems, but in some
countries, employers pay them entirely or partially. However, in many countries family
friendly laws are not enforced, or the laws are limited to women who work for companies
with 50 or more employees. Even allowing for these limitations in some nations, have the
family friendly benefits had a positive impact on women at work? Or, has the cost of such
benefits been shifted to the employees, more specifically, the women. If this shift has
happened, perhaps the situation of women is not any better than before the introduction of
these laws. What is meant by shift? To avoid having to provide the maternity and childcare
benefits, employers could avoid employing women. This could lead to higher
unemployment and lower participation rates for women. The shift could also be another
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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
explanation for the gender wage gap.
The purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive presentation of work done on
this issue. It becomes clear that there is no consensus on the impact of family-friendly
policies and the status of women in the labor market. Therefore, this paper also offers
suggestions for future research that may lead to more consistent results and provide more
support to policy-makers.
INTRODUCTION
It is believed that gender-related legislation in the labor market has evolved from
regulations aiming at safeguarding women’s family responsibilities and ensuring their physical
security, to recent provisions that promote equal pay and equal opportunities between women
and men in the workplace. Legislation specifically designed to protect female workers first
appeared in the early 1840s, when Great Britain prohibited women from working in mines and
restricted their night-time work. Other European countries followed with legislation restricting
women from underground work, night-time shifts, long working days, and jobs where their hair
could get caught in moving machinery (Wikander, Kessler-Harris, and Lewis, 1995). During
this period, occupational bans and working-hour restrictions for women were often
supplemented by mandatory maternity leave. More recently, following the 1994 International
Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, and the Fourth World Conference on
Women in Beijing the following year, we have seen the launch of many family-related
initiatives focusing on gender equality and work-family reconciliation. The rationale for
this increasing interest was the recognition that dual-working parents require special
support and that, in the absence of such support, gender equality in the workplace cannot be
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Oxford, UK
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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
achieved. In several industrialized countries, state and private support for working families,
in particular for working women with young children, are composed of a broad range of
initiatives. These include flexible working hours, telecommuting or working at home,
maternity or parental leave, medical care for sick children and childcare provisions. Some
companies have begun implementing family-friendly initiatives. In Australia, in addition to
flexible working hours, 35% of labor agreements in large firms and 8% in small firms
include at least one family friendly policy. BMW, the German automobile manufacturer,
allocates funds for the family-related needs of its employees, such as purchase of baby
carriages, children’s clothing or hearing aids for elderly relatives. The company also
provides facilities and financial support for childcare.
At present, legal provisions for maternity or parental leave are found in almost
every country. Their purpose is to allow young mothers to leave their workplace for a
limited time around childbirth and to return to their job afterwards. However, taking a
closer look at the regulations in place, it becomes clear that the provisions vary distinctly
from country to country. While in the United States, mandated job-protected maternity
leave amounts to 12 weeks in a 12 month period; in the United Kingdom, legal stipulations
allow for a duration of job-protected leave of up to 26 weeks. In the United States,
maternity leave is unpaid. In most European countries, it reaches up to 100% of the net
wage, and in the case of Germany, employers bearing a large part of the gross payroll costs
during maternity leave. Legal regulations in the United States do not provide for additional
parental leave after the end of maternity leave, while women in Germany are legally
granted a relatively broad range of choices concerning additional leave and part-time
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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
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arrangements during the first three years after childbirth. The table below presents some of
the parental leave rights in different countries around the world.
Table 1: Paid Benefits and Coverage in Selected Countries
Country
Length of
Cash Benefits
Paid Leave
Austria
16 weeks
100%
Belgium
15 weeks
82% for 30 days, then 75%
Bulgaria
180 days
100%
France
16 weeks
100%
Germany
14 weeks
100%
Italy
5 months
80%
Russia
140 days
100%
Sweden
16 months
75% for 12 months, then flat rate
United Kingdom 26 weeks
90%
Argentina
90 days
100%
Brazil
120 days
100%
Canada
26 weeks
55%
Costa Rica
120 days
50%
United States
0
0%
Ivory Cast
14 weeks
100%
China
90 days
100%
Japan
98 days
60%
Source: Social Security Programs Throughout the World - 2006
A quick glance at the table underlines the variety of coverage in place today.
REFERENCES
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Kerman, Jacob, and Arleen Leibovitz. (1997). “Labor Supply Effects of State Maternity
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Family Issues in the Workplace. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
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Ruhm, Christopher. (1998). “The economic Consequences of parental Leave Mandates:
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Shapiro, David, and Frank Mott. (1994). “Long-term Employment and Earnings of Women
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