UST IN: Duterte signs 105 days of paid maternity leave law
JUST IN: President Duterte has signed the Expanded Maternity Leave law, granting mothers 105 days of paid maternity leave. (Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News)
Eighty percent of teachers are women. Providing an expanded maternity leave would allow teachers who are new mothers to cope and adjust better when they are set to return to their classes. With a short time for maternity leave for teachers, the health and welfare of the newborn and the nursing mother and the quality of education for their students may suffer.
The current maternity leave is extremely inadequate and considered among one of the shortest maternity leave in the whole world as per the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention. This measure further assures the security of tenure of female workers and emphasizes that maternity leave shall not be used as basis for demotion in employment or termination.