Hello everybody and welcome to the ILO's Future of Work podcast. I'm Khadija Youssouf-Diallo your host for today. This year is the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the ILO Maternity Protection Convention. On this occasion, the ILO issued a new paper called "Closing the gender gap in paid parental leaves". The Convention mandates a minimum of 14 weeks of maternity leave with its Recommendation number 191 encouraging extension to 18 weeks. It calls for adequate income security
and maternal and child health protection through collective financing. Oman has been leading on this in the Arab region. It has adopted paternity leave and has put in place an innovative financing model to support both maternal and paternal leave. Now I'm joined today by Laura Addati, our Maternity protection and work family specialist at the ILO Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion unit and my homonym Khadija Al Mawali our Omani government specialist. Laura and Khadija, welcome to
the podcast. Thank you Khadija. To start off with Laura, at the global level there is a disparity of fve months which is like 20.5 weeks of paid parental leave. Tell us what is the current state of affairs in the world on paid paternity leave? The ILO brief finds that in 2024 the gender gap in paid parental leave was on average five months across the 186 countries for which the ILO has
data. This gap measures the difference between the total paid maternity and parental leave available to mothers and the total paid paternity and parental leave that is reserved for fathers by law. So this gap is explained by the fact that women are entitled to around 25 weeks of paid parental leave while men get just 2.2 weeks. So the gaps reflects the way the laws on maternity, paternity and parental leave have progressed over the years. What we find on the one hand
there has been improvement on maternity protection. Since the adoption of Convention 183 on maternity protection 25 years ago, the average duration of paid maternity leave globally has increased from around 13 weeks to 18 weeks according to the Recommendation. So we see a clear and positive impact of international labour standards in national laws. But so far only 44 countries have
ratified the Convention and many still fall short of these minimum standards in both law and practice. For instance, some categories of workers are often excluded. For instance, self-employed, migrant, domestic workers, and workers in informal economy. And this leaves almost 650 million women without adequate maternity protection globally. So, ratifying and implementing Convention 183 is
essential. Then when we look at paternity leave, we also find progress. But this progress has been much slower. Today 121 countries recognize the right to paternity leave and 105 make it paid. Think that only in the last ten years 37 countries have introduced paternity leave which is a very important progress. However, its duration remains too low and on average is only ten days of paternity leave. Often also it's too low paid or optional while maternity leave
is compulsory and this discourages fathers from using it. So all countries face challenges but with the right policy design and also smart investments, as the policy brief shows, it's possible to ensure that every mother and father has access to parental protection. Thank you so much Laura and I think now we would like to understand a little bit more on the context of more regional level with the Middle East or North Africa. Could you walk us through the state
of affairs on paternity leave there? At regional level, when we compare the situation of parental leave entitlements for mothers and fathers, the gender gap in paid parental leave reveals three main situations. Countries that display very large gender gaps that are usually driven by a lack of recognition of fathers' individual rights to paternity and parental leave. For instance, this is the case in regions such as Europe and Central Asia where the average gender gap is
over 15 months. In this region, both mothers and fathers receive long and generous paid parental leave. And these are also the countries where fathers gets the longest paid parental leave, on average 18 weeks. However, the entitlements remain unbalanced and this is due often to very long parental leaves only for mothers. So this results in perpetuating traditional roles around caregiving and also disadvantages women in the labour market. Then we have a second group of
countries where they display a short gender gap. But this is explained by limited entitlements for both parents and this is the case for the Arab states region. The ILO has data for 11 countries and here the gender gap in paid parental leave is the shortest in the world: 11 weeks. This is explained by the fact that women receive a little bit more than 11 weeks and fathers only two days. So the gap is short but this is because both mothers and fathers receive inadequate
parental leave and we haven't registered any ratification of Convention 183 in the region. But on the positive side we have the experience of Oman, which has expanded maternity leave. We will hear about that, also introduced paternity leave and I think one important design feature of these reforms is that they are funded through compulsory social insurance, which is essential for all leave policies to prevent unfair treatment against parents. And finally, we have a third
category of countries that have provided leave policies to support equality between women and men in caregiving but also work. And what they do they reserve a substantial portion of leave for fathers and also guarantee adequate maternity and parental leave to mothers, which is essential, of course, to protect women's role in maternity, child birth and protect also the health of children. So these countries really have almost closed the parental leave gap. Some have completely closed it like
Spain. And this happens because they provide equal and individual non-transferable rights to both parents. And these countries include for instance Belgium, France, Japan, Portugal, and the Republic of Korea. Khadija, could you walk us through how parental leave works in Oman today, the recently adopted legislation on paternity leave, and who benefits from it? Thank you for your invitation and of course very glad to share Oman's experience in this important context. Kicking off the answer
with the new legislation which is the 2023 legislation, which has significantly modified the maternity and paternity leave framework in Oman. Both leaves are stipulated in labour law which has introduced the formal period of entitlement: seven days for paternity and 98 days for maternity. Also the complimentary social protection law which created the funding and administration
structure by social protection fund making the system financially sustainable and inclusive. This reformation reflects the progression movement of Oman in the GCC and we can say it is counted as a historic milestone in the region as well. For the leave allowance actually is paid to the insured father or mother at rate of 100% of the full wage without maximum cap after of course deducting the
insured father or mother's contribution. I'd like to say that according to the social protection law the provisions apply to all Omanis working in various sectors, military or private etc, including different type of contracts, and all non-Omanis employed in any administrative unit or private sector. We are wondering also what motivated Oman to take this step to adopt this
new legislation? Actually, Oman adopted the new parental leave legislation to modernize its law, promote gender equality, support working families and of course align with the international standards. The collective financing model was chosen in fact to spread the cost across employer through the social protection fund. This means that shifting the full cost burden away from employer and making it more sustainable. This of course will reduce the financial burden on
individual companies and smaller businesses. Not only this but also providing health prevention to the mother and child, enhancing the involvement of Omani women in the labour market. Last but not least, unite the insurance system in Oman to be ranked among the top countries in social insurance. The report makes a strong case for paternity leave, which is actually great, saying it's essential for gender equality at work that when fathers share responsibilities,
it boosts women's participation and earnings and that employers also benefit from a more stable and talented workforce. From your perspective, Laura, why does this matter so much? And what should we be keeping in mind as we look into the future? Globally, women perform three times more unpaid care work per day than men. And this inequality, as you said Khadija, at home, translates into inequalities for women in labour force, wages, and career progression. This is why last June the
ILO adopted the resolution concerning decent work in the care economy which calls Member States to rebalance paid and unpaid work between men and women, promote women economic inclusion and autonomy beyond care and challenge social norms and gender stereotypes around caregiving roles. So parental leave policies need to be designed with this objective in mind. They need to be adequately paid, parent specific, as we said, and funded through social protection, as the case
of Oman, and need also to be grounded in social dialogue: workers' and employers' voice included with governments. This is important because we see that when fathers have access to well-paid and non-transferable leave and also receive the support they need for this caregiving role, especially at work where there is still stigma around men taking leave, fathers are more likely to take paternity and parental leave. And as you said, this has a ripple effect on
women's outcomes in the labour force. The so-called maternity pay penalty is reduced and also families benefit from great financial stabilities if both parents can work. And fathers win too because they gain caregiving skills, closer bonds with their children. And children too are healthier and display better development when they're young, but also later in life when fathers are involved. And these changes shifts social norm around caregiving roles. And as you rightly said, employers benefit
too because when leave entitlement are predictable and financed collectively, like in the case of Oman, companies can plan better, can retain staff, attract new talent and this is especially the case for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises which face more challenges. For instance, we see in the case of Spain that has equalized at 16 weeks for each parent, parental leave, fathers' uptake has increased and this has normalized their caregiving role but also created more balanced
workplaces. And looking at the bigger picture Khadija, how are these policies shaping life in Oman? The impact of maternity and paternity leave can be observed in different levels, at the levels of individuals, employers, the society and Oman entirely. Actually one of the impacts is paid maternity leave or paternity leave improves the caregiving and sharing the responsibilities
between the mother and father, and this of course will affect the society by strengthening the bonding between the families. Also introduction of paid paternity leave encourages fathers to be involved in the society. Equal benefits for Omani and non Omani workers which reduce inequalities. Also there are effects on employer such as social protection fund separate costs, so easing financial burden on employers. Also policies promote gender inclusive workplace culture. As we
know like smaller businesses may face challenges with added costs and administration. So having the maternity or paternity leave for all sectors and companies will help and ease the businesses. Oman sets a regional benchmark with progressive social insurance reforms boosting productivity, like you know maternity leave and paternity leave policies often lead to increased employee loyalty. Also encouraging investment as you know like a gender equal family friendly and labour market
is attractive to international investors and businesses looking to operate in a region where employees' rights and welfare are prioritized. And that listeners will be all for today's episode. Thank you very much Khadija Al Mawali and Laura Addati for joining us today and for sharing these insights. It's clear listening to both of you that the overall discussion on paternal leave is not
over yet. More needs to be done to achieve the Convention goals such as fairer distribution of paid paternity leave worldwide, which will benefit fathers, mothers and governments. This requires further action on a political level and also on a grassroots level. But thanks to Oman's experience and also what Laura has shared with us, I think we have some good practices for everybody. Thank you also to our listeners. You can also get updates on the ILO's work by following our social media channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, Tik Tok and X @ilo and
@ilo.org on Instagram. Until next time for another episode of the Future of Work podcast. Goodbye.
