The government has proposed providing new mothers with at least six months of paid maternity leave and fathers with up to 42 days of paid paternity leave.
The provision has been proposed in a bill drafted by the Ministry of Health to amend the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2018.
Law Minister Sobita Gautam said on social media that preparations are underway to present the bill in Parliament through the Cabinet.
“The bill proposes at least six months of paid maternity leave for mothers and up to 42 days of paid paternity leave for fathers,” Minister Gautam wrote on Facebook. “Giving birth is a natural process associated with the mother, but raising a child is not the responsibility of the mother alone.”
Minister Gautam also noted that increasing work pressures and changing lifestyles have led most families to limit themselves to one or two children. She said that Nepal’s population growth rate has also declined as young people have become less inclined to have children.
“During this special period of motherhood and fatherhood, which comes only once or twice in a lifetime, it is also the responsibility of the state to ensure that parents have sufficient time for their newborn and family,” Gautam wrote. “With this thought, the bill to amend the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2018, has been prepared, and we are now preparing to take it to Parliament through the Cabinet.”
As the government prepares to introduce the bill, an urgent motion of public importance concerning safe motherhood has also been registered in the House of Representatives.
The motion, proposed by lawmaker Sita Thapaliya, states that the existing 98-day maternity leave is insufficient and calls for additional provisions to ensure safe motherhood.
It cites Article 38(2) of Nepal’s Constitution, which guarantees every woman the fundamental right to safe motherhood and reproductive health. It also notes that these rights are implemented through the Public Health Service Act, 2018, and the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2018.
The motion states that women working in the private sector, banks, garment industries, and the informal sector are often deprived of their safe-motherhood rights and are compelled to return to work after 98 days, leaving their infants behind.
The motion is supported by Bhumika Limbu Subba, Balawati Sharma, Radhika Ramtel, and Saraswati Lama.
