A petition has been created and is being signed which outlines the need for strengthening childcare services, leaves taken by parents to tend to their children and for an easier, better work system.
The petition was prepared by Mariyam Salwa Shiyam under the name "Childcare for Tomorrow" as part of a campaign by the non-government organization (NGO) Benefit. The petition was opened to the public on 1st April and has already amassed 116 signatures.
Interested parties can sign by heading over to the Parliament's E-Petition portal until 21st May.
The NGO said that the purpose of the campaign is to identify the required aid for children from their birth until they are of age to attend school, to identify the obstacles due to a lack of that service, and to work to find a permanent solution.
The petition stated that if solutions are found for the issues in acquiring these services, it would directly and indirectly benefit everyone. The petition also stated that benefits would include women who go though childbirth being given leave from work, expansion in the role of women in the workforce and an increase in opportunities, promote gender equality and bring about solutions to many unwanted matters that occur in the community.
The NGO has also conducted research into the matter.
Notable findings from the research
- 9 percent of people use official daycare centers.
- One out of three people depend on family or friends to care for their children.
- Those who work full-time need to rely on unofficial forms of help.
- 91 percent of people believe there is no adequate options for childcare within the community.
- A lack of family-friendly workplace policies is the biggest obstacle in staying employed or being employed in the first place.
Recommendations from the NGO
- Subsidize affordable and high-quality daycare.
- Introduce a childcare allowance in the public and private sectors.
- Regulation and monitoring of childcare centers.
- Make the six-month maternity leave and one-month paternity leave given by civil service and government agencies upon childbirth mandatory in the private sector.
Benefit stated that even though a lot of families want high-quality childcare services, their salary limitations makes it so that the service is out of reach for them. Benefit also highlighted that low-income families are especially the ones who find it difficult to acquire such services.
"Most of the families in Maldives have both parents who go to work. If there is no way for parents to acquire high-quality childcare services during such a time in their lives, there may be many obstacles that will be faced when trying to raise future generations in the best way possible," as was written in the petition.
As parents, especially mothers, play a very important role in caring for infants, women spending too much time in the office has become a major challenge for them, said Benefit.
The solution that is needed
- Allow mothers or fathers the opportunity to work from home from the day maternity leave ends until their child is two years old, or reduce working hours, or amend the Employment Act so that convenient arrangements such as choosing working hours can be made. To amend the Employment Act so that such arrangements cannot be denied without legitimate reasons.
- Establish daycare centers with the help of the government. And to establish a regulation where convenient arrangements regarding work or parents who do not have the opportunity to work from home be prioritized, and middle and low-income families be given subsidies within a subsidy system aimed at said families.
