The Punjab Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill 2019 was submitted in Punjab Assembly on Friday demanding more benefits and security for the women at their workplaces during maternity and pregnancy days. The bill submitted by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt sought amendment in the ‘Punjab Maternity Benefits Ordinance of 1958’ in order to facilitate and encourage the involvement, retention of women in the workforce. “The constitution encourages promotion of social justice and eradication of social evils and provision of maternity benefits to women in employment,” said the statement of objective of the bill. The bill after becoming an act would be applicable to all the woman employees whether they are working on contract basis or permanent. Bill proposes 24-weeks maternity leave; 0.5 mn fine in case of violation According to the bill, every workplace having fifty or more employees will be bound to establish a ‘Day care Centre’ reserved for the use of children up to the age of 6 years. The bill further states that every woman will be allowed to visit the day care centre four times a day to meet her child. “Every woman will be allowed to have two breaks in a day for the nursing care of her child until he or she attains the age of fifteen months,” said the MPA in her bill submitted in Punjab Assembly on Friday. As per the bill, any employer who violates any provision of the ordinance will be punishable to pay fine up to 0.5 million. The bill says that every women employed in the organization will be entitled to maternity leave for a duration of twenty-four weeks. The maternity leave can further be extended depending on the health condition of the mother and child after the delivery. In the case of miscarriage, the woman will be given six-week long leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit. Talking to the Daily Times, the mover of the bill MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt said that many articles of constitution of Pakistan and several treaties of the United Nations also propose such kind of legislation for the women employees. “The article 25 of the constitution of Pakistan guarantees that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex and that the State may take special provisions for the protection of women and children and the Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 encourages special protection with paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits to mothers during a reasonable period before and after the childbirth. Therefore, it is imperative to make such legislation on urgent basis,” she said. Currently, Sindh gives 16-weeks maternity leave whereas Punjab gives only 12-weeks leave She further added that the existing law provides the maternity leave only for twelve weeks in Punjab that is not sufficient as ‘The Sindh Maternity Benefits Act 2018’ has increased the duration of maternity leave to 16 weeks. The existing law in Punjab only gives the penalty of 3000 rupees in case of any violation and therefore this amount of fine should be increased up to 0.5 million, she added. “As I work for the women rights and have witnessed many cases where our mothers-part of workforce-suffer a lot during the pregnancy and maternity days. This law will be implemented across the board both in the government and private sector once the bill is passed by the Punjab Assembly,” said Hina.