Maternity protection vs. maternity rights for working women in Chile: a historical review

Abstract

Maternity leave in Chile has been a social right since 1919, when the International Labour Organization set the first global standards. From its inception, Chile's labour legislation focused on protecting motherhood and the family. The length of maternity leave has been extended several times since then but its main aim remains the protection of infant health. In 1931, Chile's first Labour Code required anyone employing 20 or more women to provide day care services and facilitate childcare and paid breastfeeding time for all mothers of children under one. Labour laws began to play an important role in accommodating the care of infants within working conditions, though not always effectively. In spite of job protection during pregnancy and breastfeeding, women can be dismissed on grounds other than pregnancy. It was only under Salvador Allende and again in the past two decades that Chile has enfranchised women as holders of health rights. However, many unresolved tensions remain. Chile promotes motherhood, but often considers that working women who demand employment protection abuse the system. Motherhood is a magic wand that represents the selflessness of women, but society throws a blanket of mistrust over women who wish to exercise their maternity rights and to determine the number and spacing of their children.

Origins of Family Policy: Prerequisites or Diffusion

“…This convergence of various political forces on the issue of infant mortality and female employment is also apparent in a wide array of countries, which adopted similar policies in the early twentieth century. Among these were the fascist regime in Italy (1925Italy ( /1926) and the Soviet Union (1932) (Caroli 2019), but also the late-late-developing countries of the southern cone of Latin America: Chile (1917) and Argentina (1924) (Aguilar 2018;Casas and Herrera 2012).…”

Constitutions and Gender Equality in Chile and Argentina

“…Changes in Chilean labour law reflect a tension between the constitutional commitments to family and to equality before the law. As Casas and Herrera (2012) note, protection of motherhood is desirable and accepted, while claiming maternity rights is not. Some important legislation advancing women’s rights in the workplace has been passed – for example, the Sexual Harassment Law and the Equal Pay Law.…”

Ética del cuidado gestante: entre lógicas tradicionales y nuevas formas de organización en un contexto chileno

“…La gestación, como proceso que encarnan las mujeres, ha estado vinculada con estudios que van desde las teorías de género (Narotzky 1995), historia de las mujeres (Knibiehler y Fouquet 1983;Berriot Salvadore 2000;Esteban 2000), hasta estudios epidemiologógicos en perspectivas nacionales y locales (Taucher y Jofré 1997;Donoso, 2004;Casas y Herrera, 2012). En ese sentido, el periodo gestante ha sido notoriamente estudiado por la historia, la medicina y la antropología.…”