An objective of the Paid Parental Leave Act in Part 1-1 Division 1A Objects of this Act is to “enhance the health and development of birth mothers and children”. This objective aligns with longstanding research evidence on the positive relationship between paid leave for mothers, the health outcomes for women and their children, and establishment and maintenance of breastfeeding (Bütikofer, Riise & Skira, 2021). It is a fundamental objective of multiple International Labour Organization Conventions on maternity leave and World Health Organization recommendations on maternal and child health (WHO, 2003) and is established in various human rights treaties (see Box D). While maternalist arguments for longer period of paid parental leave have been in part overshadowed by more recent arguments around the role of paid parental leave in supporting women’s workforce participation and gender equality, the research evidence on maternal and child health remains robust and should be considered.
Box D. Care at work: Investing in care leaveand services fora more gender equal world of work
“Paid maternity leave with adequate maternal and child healthcare is a core element of thehealth and economic protection of women workers and their children during the pre- and post-natal period and during periods of breastfeeding. It is a precondition to the right to care and be cared for and to achieve gender equality at work. This role is universally acknowledged and firmly established in key universal human rights treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), as well as in international labour standards on maternity protection and social security adopted by ILO constituents – government, employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations – overa century ago, as the first Maternity Protection Convention, 1919 (No. 3), was adopted in 1919. The “provision for child welfare and maternity protection” is also listed among the core aims and purposes of the ILO (Article III of the Declaration of Philadelphia, 1944). The second Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103), was adopted in 1952, and the last and most up-to-date international labour standards on this topic are the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) and Recommendation (No. 191), 2000. Other relevant ILO standards are the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), and the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202).The importance of ensuring maternity leave rights is also confirmed by the fact that the vast majority of countries have adopted statutory provisions for paid maternity leave. This entitlement is associated with positive health outcomes for women and their children, as well as with the establishment and maintenance of breastfeeding (Bütikofer, Riise & Skira, 2021, as cited in International Labour Organization, 2022, p. 53).”
The ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention (C191) establishes the right of women to a minimum 18 weeks maternity leave paid at full wage replacement with paid nursing breaks and appropriate nursing facilities upon return to work (article 9). Australia has not ratified the convention. Research also shows that fathers’ participation in parenting is important to maternal and child health, in particular the mother’s decision to breastfeed (Bar-Yam & Darby, 1997; Rempel & Rempel, 2011; Wolfberg et al., 2004). The more a father is involved in parental care for a newborn the more likely it is that a mother will successfully breastfeed (Kotelchuck, 2022; Redshaw & Henderson, 2013).
Breastfeeding is widely accepted as positive for baby health in the first year and beyond. International recommendations are that infants be exclusively breastfed for up to 6 months of age for optimal health, growth and development (WHO, 2003). It is then recommended that solid foods are combined with breastfeeding until the age of 12 months. Extending the duration of breastfeeding was a key aim of the paid parental leave scheme recommended by the Productivity Commission inquiry (Productivity Commission, 2009). In more recent comparative literature we find that the detail of policy design shapes patterns of breastfeeding. For example, a policy focus on parental leave as ‘gender neutral’ that prioritises flexibility could compromise maternal and child health if it were to be used in a way that unduly limited the duration of paid leave taken by new mothers (Bakken, 2022) and where the amount of paid leave taken was short, new mothers may not be able to access adequate paid time to rest and recover from birth or establish breastfeeding (Euromonitor, 2016).
We highlight two pieces of research and analysis on parental leave policy and child health linked to breastfeeding.
- Recent research by the Norwegian Labor Directorate found that policy changes to increase the paternity leave ‘quota’ by shortening the paid maternity leave ‘quota’ led to an increase in the proportion of new mothers who took unpaid leave explicitly to stay at home longer and breastfeed (Bakken, 2022).
- Baby food industry publications note that parental leave policies have an impact on breastfeeding rates. In response to the parental leave policy debate of 2015–16 the Australia Country report prepared by Euromonitor International (Euromonitor, 2016, p. 5) concluded: “Recent amendments to Australian Government policy are likely to have a significant impact on baby food in the country. For example, changes to Australia’s Paid Parental Leave scheme will have a significant impact on local baby food throughout the forecast period as it will influence whether a mother staying at home to breastfeed her children is a feasible option, as well as whether making homemade baby food is a practical choice. Changing paid parental leave from 18 weeks to six months would increase the ability of Australian mothers to breastfeed, while assisting the return to work would have the opposite impact. The anticipated result of this will be decreased breastfeeding rates and Australian mothers turning to milk formula as a substitute.”
Paid parental leave supports maternal and child health and breastfeeding, in particular the health of disadvantaged children (Broadway et al., 2017). It also supports father–child bonding, fathering identities (Petts et al., 2020) and children’s long-term educational outcomes (Ginja et al., 2020).