Parents at Work: Leave & Breastfeeding Breaks by Country is an advocacy tool developed by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) as part of the Empowering Parents Campaign (EPC). The EPC aims to promote social protection that will facilitate the integration of parents’ productive and reproductive work in both formal and informal sectors. Family-supportive policies, that enable women to remain and progress in paid employment and encourage men to take their fair share of care work, are crucial to achieving greater gender equality at work and at home. Decent work includes parental social protection policies and legislation, public-funded paid leave and parent-friendly or family-friendly workplaces that help transform social norms, protect workers from job discrimination and help achieve the balance in work and family life for all workers in line with several of the Sustainable Development Goals.
This tool summarises the nationally mandated leave (maternity, paternity and parental), breastfeeding breaks, and the provider of these benefits in 195 countries. To date, 38 countries have ratified the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), which sets the minimum global standards. Out of 195 countries studied, paternity and parental leave are only available in 100 and 66 countries respectively, and most countries offer at least some paid maternity leave. Progress is slow in meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for the provision of at least 6 months paid leave to support exclusive breastfeeding. Approximately half of the countries worldwide meet the International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, including 47% of low-income countries, 43% of middle-income countries, and 77% of high-income countries.
Use this tool to advocate for gender-equitable parental social protection that will empower parents and enable breastfeeding in the context of both formal and informal work sectors.