The current system, which includes 14 weeks, would be restrictive for most women who are required to return to work one to two months after giving birth.
The collective for peaceful maternity leave is using the current revision of the labor law to demand this reform. The association offers six months’ leave for women and one month for men for, she justifies, a better reconciliation between family and professional life. A petition has been launched in this direction and it has already collected more than 12,500 signatures. The goal is to reach 15,000 signatures so that the initiative is submitted to the National Assembly.
It is from personal experience that the members of the collective for a peaceful maternity leave have initiated this initiative that they intend to include in the public debate.
“A member of the collective had to resign [de son travail, NDLR] because there were complications during childbirth. She asked for accessibility, we told her no, ”explains Fabienne Gouba, one of the initiators of the petition.
Some countries such as the Gambia are already applying the six-month maternity leave. In Burkina Faso, it lasts three months, but according to Fabienne Gouba, mothers do not take full advantage of it for the well-being of themselves and their children.
“Whether the pregnancy is going very well or not, the current law on maternity leave in Burkina Faso requires a woman to go on maternity leave four weeks before the expected date of birth. Since the law clearly states that maternity leave after childbirth may not exceed ten weeks, the woman is deprived of valuable weeks with the child. ”
The collective wishes that this preventive work break is only required when it is justified by a medical certificate. He also suggests that pregnant women can choose either 14 weeks ‘leave or 28 weeks’ leave. He also wants the exceptional three-day leave granted to the father to be turned into a month’s paternity leave.
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