The European Parliament votes on Maternity Leave Directive

On 20 October 2010 the European Parliament will vote in Strasbourg on the revision of the 1992 Maternity Leave Directive, which provides for 14 weeks maternity leave without any binding measures on pay.

While Brussels wishes to extend maternity leave to 18 weeks, a report by the Socialist Party Members of the European Parliament Edite Estrela argues in favour of granting mothers 20 weeks of full salary compensation and the protection against dismissal during six months after giving birth. It also proposes a 2 weeks minimum paternity leave.

As MEPs are preparing to vote, women’s organizations from across the European Union are mobilising to have her proposal included in the revisions to the Maternity Leave Directive.

Among them is the European Women’s Lobby, the largest umbrella organization of women’s associations in the European Union.

According to Myria Vassiliadou, EWL Secretary General: “Strong European Maternity Leave Provisions are an imperative to ensure human rights and gender equality, but they are equally an imperative to ensure Europe’s social and economic sustainability”.

The Italian Coordination of the European Women’s Lobby has published an open letter to MEP’s, outlining the European Women’s Lobby’s campaign to ensure adequate maternity leave provisions for all women in Europe.

Attached is the text of the letter, as well as “Seven Common Myths about the Costs of Maternity Leave”, released by the EWL “to invite policy makers to join European mothers in the real world!”

www.womenlobby.org