TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Women Empowerment and Child Protection official Rohika Kurnia Sari said that the government is encouraging studies of 6-month maternity leave.
Rohika said that the studies could help the government adopt 6-month maternity leave in Indonesia. The government has previously mulled on including the maternity leave in the national regulation. “We are considering whether to issue a new regulation or a ministerial regulation or to include it in the child care law,” she said.
The government has yet to make any decision due to the lack of study. A study is expected to reveal the difference between children whose mother get six-month maternity leave and those who are given three months leave. “A six-month maternity leave for mothers to give full, exclusive breastfeeding,” she said.
So far, Aceh is the only region to have adopted a regulation on exclusive breastfeeding. The regulation holds that Aceh civil servants are allowed six months leave for pregnancy and after delivery.
Aside from civil servants, non-permanent workers are allowed 20 days leave before delivery and six months leave after delivery for exclusive breastfeeding. Meanwhile, Law No. 13/2003 on Labor holds that female workers are given three-month maternity leave only.
The Indonesian Association of Child-Friendly Companies (IACFC) chairman Luhur Budijarso said that it will not be easy to implement six-month maternity leave in his partnering companies. “Out of our 150 members, only one company adopts six-month maternity leave, i.e. Danone,” he said.
Danone has already adopted six-month maternity leave and 10 days paternity leave. The company HR director said that it is not easy to implement the policy. Those who go on maternity leave have to assign tasks to their co-workers. The company would sometimes hire non-permanent workers to do their job. “But the policy keeps workers happy because they can strike a balance between family and work,” Evan said.
MITRA TARIGAN