Women, parents, rights organisations lambast ‘disappointing’ parental leave rules

Malta’s parenting associations and the Women’s Lobby have accused the government of excluding civil society from the conversation over new laws granting a full 10 days of paid, paternity leave.

The Malta Women’s Lobby, the National Parents Society of Persons with Disability (NPSPD), Moviment Graffitti, Positive Birth Malta,  The Maltese Daddy, and Aditus Foundation said Malta’s implementation of an EU directive, just days before the transposition deadline, states that the two months of parental leave will be paid at sick-pay level.

“We question why the government decided to pay at sick-pay level, when the parents are not ‘sick’ – they are caring for their children, today’s young citizens and tomorrow’s workforce, and who will be contributors towards society and the welfare state.”

In real terms, this would translates to €21.85 daily for parents. But the associations said that with the current rise in the cost of living, nobody could afford to take such leave.

“The implementation of this Directive will be largely ineffective. Expecting parents to live on a pay of €21.85 a day is beyond unrealistic. Such conditions will not only put off fathers from taking this leave, but mothers, too. Parents cannot afford to accept such a drastic reduction to their income, at a time when their family expenses are the highest,” the MWL said.

Malta, which has the lowest birthrate in Europe, still experiences significant inequality between men and women, where the caring burden is still placed squarely on women's shoulders.

The Maltese government has opted for the bare minimum in implementing measures in the Work-Life Balance Directive for working parents and carers.

“This, to say the least, is most disappointing with the only exception being the fully paid 10 days of paternity leave,” the NGOs said.

They said that while the 10 days paid paternity leave was positive, albeit insufficient, the rest of the measures went against the spirit of the Directive. “They are more than likely to increase the caring gap between women and men, rather than reduce it.  As a result, in the eyes of employers, mothers will continue to be viewed as posing significantly more challenges, in contrast to men, whose conditions will continue to be viewed as the norm,” they said.

“If the government really wanted to encourage more parents to take up parental leave to close the caring gap and increase work life balance, it should have opted for a realistic pay rate which is as close as possible to the parents’ previous earnings. Instead, the government has opted to offer a miserly rate, a clear indication of how policy makers are out of touch with the realities of regular citizens.”

The NGOs also said the transposition of the law does not acknowledge that every birth is different, and that fathers need to avail themselves of the utmost flexibility as to when to opt for the 10 days paternity leave.

The law also binds parents to avail of their parental leave in established periods of at least two weeks.

It also restricts parents when the paid leave can be taken. For example, parents can only take one month of paid leave in the first four years, leaving the remaining months for when children are older. “This lack of flexibility is, once again, indicative of a lack of understanding of family needs in a scenario where both parents work,” the NGOs said.

Carers leave and foreign workforce

They also lambasted the government’s concession for five days’ unpaid leave as “a  bold statement that the authorities are not giving caring its due importance”.

“The idea that caring should be provided for free simply perpetuates the charity model towards disability and those in need of care, and will, especially, impact negatively mothers’and women’s earnings,” the NGOs said. 

“Women already bear the brunt of having to reduce their hours and take cuts in their monthly pay to be able to care for family members who need long term care. The fact that this leave is unpaid will make the situation worse for them, since it is highly unlikely that men will want to take up this unpaid leave, once again contributing towards an increase in the caring gap between women and men.” 

The lobby for parents with a disability also said that with assistance services decreasing instead of increasing, the expectation to take on the responsibility for the missing care with no compensation for their lost earnings, was grossly unjust. “Back in 2017, the government had launched a public consultation about paid leave for parents in the case of sick children, but this was never followed up.”

The NGOs also pointed out that the additional four weeks of maternity leave that the mothers are eligible for on top of the granted 14 weeks, are only available to Maltese mothers, migrants with refugee status, EU nationals and non-Maltese mothers married to a Maltese.

“Are we going to see the same discriminatory behaviour against sections of foreign working mothers played out again in this Directive?”