OCTOBER 13 — Your alarm rings. It’s 6.30am. You jump out of bed feeling exhausted as your three-month-old son was up the entire night.
You prepare a quick breakfast for yourself and your husband, get ready for work and send your baby to the nanny.
You then brace through traffic to get to your office in Jalan Sultan Ismail. The moment you step into your office you immediately start working on your department’s budget report which is due the next day.
Two hours later, you draw the blinds in your office room to express milk. But barely five minutes into it, you get a text message from the baby sitter that your baby is down with fever. Your colleague also sends you a Whatsapp message that your boss requires you to attend a lunch meeting in Shah Alam in the next hour.
Ah, the dilemmas of a working mother.
Many working mothers find it difficult to find a balance between their career and family. First time mothers, who have a career, admit they are unable to cope with work and family without support from their employers.
One young mother shared: There’s no place to wash your milk pump, no place to sterile the bottle, no place to store milk. With work, it’s almost impossible to breastfeed your child for the first six months as recommended by the World Health Organisation. When I began work a month ago I still had pain from my delivery and I am forced to pump milk in the office storeroom as there is no nursing room in the office. But this too has become irregular due to back-to-back meetings and travelling. And in the end my milk supply has decreased.”
Another mother said: I faced the same problems and when my child was younger I felt guilty putting in the extra hours at work and my daughter was constantly on my mind. It was tiring and it showed as my health deteriorated. I spoke to my employer about the issue and luckily, the company allowed me to work from home for a few months.”
The improved Child Care Leave for mothers in the civil service which was announced by the prime minister is certainly a milestone for women in the country.
Effective January 1, female civil servants are no longer tied to the duration of their maternity leave (90 days) and have the option to go on child care leave for up to one year. The leave is limited to children until they reach one year and is extended to female personnel with stepchildren, legally adopted children, foster children and children with disabilities.
The move will certainly enable mothers to foster better bonds with their child. It is a policy which is practiced in most developed countries.
In Japan, maternity and childcare leave last from six weeks before the child is born until the child’s first birthday, for a total of 58 weeks. The 58 weeks are paid at rates ranging between 30 to 60 per cent of the parent’s usual salary. If a new mother wishes to return to work after six weeks and has approval from her doctor, she may do so, but is expected to only perform light duties.
In Norway, parents are given the option to take a total of up to three years of leave after the birth of a child. Parents initially receive 54 weeks of paid leave which they can divide between maternity, paternity leave.
But will the system work in Malaysia?
A mother of two, who had recently return to work, said while the long leave was ideal for new mothers, Malaysia is not ready for such a system.
“We simply can’t implement a policy practiced by developed countries because for one those abroad pay high taxes. They also do not have a high production rate and they value their future generation.
“In Malaysia, it’s common to see families with up to five children. I don’t think it suits our cultural norm and we should also evaluate the productivity level of our civil servants,” she said.
The government has not revealed details on the plan and how much of our tax money will go towards the implementation of the scheme.
Yet, concerns have already been raised by certain groups on whether the productivity level of civil servants will drop, given there’s a large number of women in the sector.
Will part time workers or temporary workers be hired to fill up the void when these mothers go on leave?
Malaysia aims to increase the participation of women in the workforce from 52.4 per cent to 55 per cent by 2015.
While efforts are being made to reach this goal in the public sector, the same cannot be said in the private sector.
The private sector only offers 60 days maternity leave and young mothers say there is pressure for them to put in the extra hours after being away from work for two months.
Child-care facilities in private organisations are still poor. Many companies do not see the need to invest to ensure work place are baby and child friendly.
Present regulations do not make it mandatory for companies to offer such benefits to their workers. There is also still this caveman mentality that a pregnant employee is an unproductive employee. Malay Mail journalist Ida Nadirah was on her feet till the very last week of her pregnancy as she showed plenty of zest and spirit while on the job without a single complaint. In fact, she was constantly reminded by the editors to take it easy.
Sadly, there are still cases of female employees being side-lined when they inform their superiors they are pregnant as there is already a supposed presumption that female employees will opt to resign after delivery.
The truth is, there are many talented women workers out there who are finding it tough to balance between work and family. Many are forced to quit their jobs, as there is no proper support system, including flexible working hours mechanism to cater for working mothers.
Bringing up a child is a shared responsibility between two. Young fathers these days are also eager to be part of their child’s early days.
More efforts must be put in place to ensure women are retained in the workforce as it is one area which many employers have neglected over the years.
A happy employee is a productive employee and it’s time employers make life a little easier for their staff.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
