Saturday, October 18, 2025
spot_img

UK plans paid maternity leave for ministers to promote women in politics

spot_img
- Advertisement -

UK plans paid maternity leave for ministers to promote women in politics

Britain will introduce its first formal maternity leave for ministers under a draft bill announced on Thursday that aims to protect new mothers and promote more women in politics.

The new law will mean that female cabinet members can take up to six months’ paid leave while their job is covered.

Women’s rights campaigners said the bill – announced more than a century after the election of the first female member of parliament – was long overdue and called for the government to extend similar leave to all lawmakers with new-borns.

“The choice between taking leave to recover from childbirth and care for a new-born child or resigning from office is not acceptable in modern times,” said Prime Minster Boris Johnson in a written statement.

Under the current system, lawmakers can take paid time off after having children but there is no formal leave provision.

Inflexible salary rules meant the government had little ability to appoint people to temporary cabinet jobs, said Johnson, meaning that ministers who wanted to take maternity leave would likely have to resign from government.

The law change is first set to benefit Attorney General Suella Braverman, who has said she is expecting a baby “early” this year.

Rights campaigners said that parental leave provisions are key in getting more women into top-level politics.

About a third of the lower parliamentary house is female, though Johnson has faced criticism from some for picking male-dominated senior teams.

Only six of the 26 current cabinet members are women.

Britain in 2019 saw its first and only temporary ‘locum’ appointed to cover opposition lawmaker Stella Creasy during her maternity leave, but rules mean the role was limited to constituency work and she could not speak or vote in parliament.

“It is total insanity that it has taken 103 years for the government to recognise that their female members of cabinet may have babies and provision needs to be put in place for this eventuality,” said Joeli Brearley of maternal rights campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed.

“Although we very much welcome this change, it is disappointing that there is still no maternity or paternity leave policy for MPs.

“If the government is serious about creating a 50:50 parliament then parental leave policies are critical.”

spot_img

Editorial

Why TCS Deferred FY25 Salary Hike: Better Hike Ahead?

TCS had initially announced its annual salary hike during...

Deloitte, PWC, EY, KPMG to Hire 1 Lakh People in India in FY25

According to estimates from top company officials and industry...

Higher EPS Pension Application Stuck: A Step-by-Step Guide to Fix

Nearly 97,640 Provident Fund (PF) members and pensioners under...

Employee Benefits at India’s Big 4 Firms Deloitte, PwC , EY, KPMG

The Big 4 firms; Deloitte, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), EY (Ernst...

TCS Announces 4-8% Salary Hike for FY25, Lowest in Last 4 Years

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT services provider,...

Must Read

Novo Nordisk to Cut 9,000 Jobs in Global Restructuring Drive

Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company known for its...

Top Digital Workplace Trends of 2020-21

Workplace digital transformation is a corporate talk of every...

Accenture Completes Acquisition of CLIMB; adds nearly 230 people

Accenture has completed the acquisition of CLIMB, a technology services...

TCS Organizing Mega Walk-in Drive at Multiple Locations on Sept 28

India's Largest IT Services Provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)...

HCLTech Walk-In Drive, 18th & 20th Sept: Grab Opportunities

India's third largest IT services provider company, HCLTech is...

ETHOS to hire aggressively in 2022, opens office in India

A San Francisco, CA-based technology company Ethos which sells...

IIT Kharagpur & TCS develop novel Industry 4.0 technology

IIT Kharagpur in Partnership with TCS Sets New Trends...

The future of performance management lies in empowering employees – Shweta Mohanty

Rendezvous with Shweta Mohanty, Vice President and Head- HR,...

Related Articles

SightsIn Plus
SightsIn Plushttps://sightsinplus.com/
SightsIn Plus is an India’s leading high-quality people-focused monthly HR Magazine and provides up-to-date HR News, Leadership Announcements, Best HR Practices and Insights by Global CHROs, CEOs, HR Advisors, Business Managers and HR Heads on topics of interest to HR professionals. To subscribe SightsIn Plus, HR Magazine please visit- https://sightsinplus.com/subscribe/