Jennifer, mother of one and expecting another baby next month, has been working almost non-stop in the 11 years since she finished her studies and entered the “real world.”
Like many of her friends who are mothers or mothers-to-be, Jennifer doesn’t dare take a long break to prepare for the birth and take care of her newborn afterwards, even if her company allows her to take the time she is legally entitled to.
“Even if the company allows me to take such long breaks, I would not do so, because who knows what will happen when I come back?” she said.
The Council of Labor Affairs has recently been considering an amendment that would allow female workers to take a maximum of one year of unpaid leave to prepare for a birth. This period would allow a pregnant worker to take measures to avoid a miscarriage or receive treatment for pregnancy-related discomfort and illnesses.
Pregnant women would have to present medical proof from their doctors recommending a set period of rest in order to claim the time-off allowance.
The council’s proposal, however, has faced widespread criticism from labor and business groups alike. Labor groups and working mothers such as Jennifer doubt the plan will have any real effect because women who fear losing their jobs while on leave end up choosing not to take such long breaks.
Although the Act for Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) prohibits employers from discriminating against mothers or treating mothers unfairly in the workplace, women like Jennifer still worry that while they are on their long breaks, their employer will find someone else to replace them — permanently.
National Federation of Independent Trade Unions (NAFITU) president Chu Wei-li (朱維立) said that although he is glad to see the council was mulling such a proposal, he’s doubtful the plan would really work.
“Even if pregnant women are allowed to take unpaid pregnancy leave, some of them might insist on going to work despite the risk of miscarriage because if they don’t work, they don’t have an income,” he said.
Chu said that without measures to ensure that women would not need to worry about their jobs or lost income, the plan might look good, but have no real effect.
While the Act stipulates that employers cannot discriminate on gender, if authorities do not step up efforts to implement the regulations and inspect businesses and punish violators, then the Act is merely “an illusion.”
Business groups and employers, on the other hand, said replacing a worker who takes such long breaks would be costly.
“Businesses need a certain amount of time to train new employees, even those who have some work experience. It is difficult for some businesses to afford the salaries of both the replacement and the working mother who comes back to work after giving birth,” said Paul Wang (王振保), secretary-general of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Wang’s sentiments were reflective of many individual business owners who, while generally agreeing that women are as valuable in the workplace as men, may not like the cost-benefit equation that the plan would inevitably bring about.
Edward, who runs his own international trade business, said that if the plan was put into effect, he might reconsider certain promotion opportunities for pregnant employees.
“It’s difficult for me to admit this, but I do have some concerns about whether an expectant mother who takes such a long time off is able to handle the heavier workload and responsibilities that come with a promotion,” he said.
Edward is not alone in thinking this way. His hesitation highlights one of the biggest challenges working mothers face, with or without social welfare legislation. Although pregnancy leave is intended to benefit pregnant workers, without supportive measures to back up the plan, women will be the ones forced to pay for their — and society’s — lifestyle choices.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching