The Development Benefits of Maternity Leave

Abstract

Within developing countries, studies addressing the effects of maternity benefits on fertility, infant/child health, and women's labor force participation are limited and provide contradictory findings. Yet, knowledge regarding the implementation of maternity provisions is essential, as such policies could significantly improve women and children's well--being. We add to this literature by using fixed effects panel regression from 1999 through 2012 across 121 developing countries to explore whether different types of maternity leave policies affect infant/child mortality rates, fertility, and women's labor force participation, and whether those effects are shaped by disparities in GDP per Capita and Secondary School Enrollment. Our findings demonstrate: 1) both infant and child mortality rates are expected to decline in countries that institute any leave policy, policies that last 12 weeks or longer, and policies that increase in duration and payment as a percentage of total annual salary, 2) fertility is expected to decline in countries that have higher weekly paid compensation, 3) maternity leave provisions decrease fertility and infant/child mortality rates most in countries with lower GDP per capita and countries with middle range secondary enrollment rates, and 4) labor force participation does not increase. Our results suggest that policy makers must consider the duration, compensation, and goals (addressing fertility versus mortality rates) of a policy alongside a country's economic development and secondary school enrollment when determining which maternity leave provisions to apply within developing--country contexts.

The financing need for expanded maternity protection in Indonesia

“…Indeed, a study has shown that introducing publicly funded paid maternity leave at the minimum wage level may lead to higher breastfeeding rates [39]. This, in turn, may help to avert some of the associated premature child mortality and cognitive losses [5, 40, 41]. A potential impact of an insufficient length of paid maternity leave is that it limits the possibility of providing breastfeeding according to recommendation [3, 5, 42].…”

“…Lastly, we did not discuss other non-economic, ancillary benefits of providing 6 months paid maternity leave that might accrue (e.g. increase uptake of vaccination, increase female labor force participation decrease fertility, and decrease infant mortality rate [40, 44, 60]), rather we strictly focused on associations with providing breastfeeding according to recommendations. Note that we also did not model a direct causal pathway between providing 6 months paid maternity leave and the uptake of breastfeeding, and the subsequent decrease in the cost of not breastfeeding.…”

The Role of Work-Family Balance Policy for Enhancing Social Sustainability: A Choice Experiment Analysis of Koreans in their Twenties and Thirties

“…In line with our expectations, the active implementation of WFB policy provides differentiated support for those with positive pregnancy intentions, implying that it may contribute to reversing the trend of low fertility. Meanwhile, people in their 20s and 30s with no pregnancy intention are more likely to place greater importance on their individual lives and to be more career-oriented, thus preferring larger firms that offer greater opportunities for internal promotion [21,22,42,43].…”

“…Other studies have argued that higher-educated persons seek prestigious and lucrative positions within their workplace. According to this argument, the use of long vacations—such as parental leave that lasts a few years—would hamper the pursuit of such goals, making higher-educated persons more averse to utilizing WFB policies [21]. Mandel [22] stated that women with low levels of education were likely to be temporarily employed or in physically demanding jobs, thereby having greater need for job security and stable jobs.…”

Maternity Leave at EU Level and Its Impact on Gender (In)Equality

“…According to Fallon et al (2017), great correlation has been found between maternity leave policies and fertility rates. For instance, in Denmark, Sweden and France, the fertility rates are among the highest in Europe, and this happens due to high payment rates (see table 1), which are above the average.…”