manual: women workers' rights and gender equality - International ...

Card 5: Maternity Protection (picture No. 28)
Maternity Protection is covered by several ILO conventions but these are not yet ratified by the
Cambodian Government (see for more details the session about Maternity Protection).
In article 46.2 of the Constitution is stated that a woman shall not lose her job because of
pregnancy and women shall have the right to take maternity leave with full pay and with no loss of
seniority or other social benefits.
In the section about child and women labour in the Labour Code 1997 (chapter 6, section 8)
articles 182 to 187 deal with maternity protection. The main points are:
- Women shall be certified to a maternity leave of 90 days.
- During the first two months after returning to work they are only expected to perform light work.
- The employer is prohibited from laying off women during maternity leave.
- Women are entitled to half of their wage during maternity leave.
- Women fully reserve their rights to other benefits in kind if they have been employed for a
minimum of one year with the employer.
- One year from the date of delivery mothers who breastfeed their children are entitled to one
hour per day during working hours to breastfeed their children. This time shall not be deducted
from normal breaks.
Card 6: Workers with Family Responsibilities (picture No. 29)
Convention 156: Workers with Family Responsibilities
This Convention promotes sharing of family responsibilities and equality of opportunity and
treatment for women and men workers with such responsibilities (see session 4.4 Workers with
Family Responsibilities for more details).
The Cambodian Government did not yet ratify this Convention. However, in Chapter 6 of the 1997
Labour Code, section 8, article 186 states: managers of enterprises employing a minimum of one
hundred women or girls shall set up, within their establishments or nearby, a nursing room and a
crèche. If the company is not able to set up a crèche on its premises for children over eighteen
months of age, female workers can place their children in any crèche and the charges shall be
paid by the employer. ILO experience has learned that it is better not to make the provision of
child care facilities obligatory only for companies with many women workers as this leads to
discrimination in access to employment against women in practice.
Another provision given in the Labour Act 1997 is the possibility of special leave (chapter 6, section
7). The employer has the right to grant a worker special leave during the event directly affecting
the worker’s immediate family (see session Time to Work, Overtime and Leisure Time for more
details about special leave).
Tip:
During more theoretical sessions like this one it is good to do an energizer with the participants so
that they remain concentrated. For example, singing a song about the topic is a good way of
getting the participants more involved in the topic. Ask them if they know a song and if they like to
share it with the others or maybe there are songs all participants know so you can sing together.
Some examples of trade union songs about workers in the garment sector are given below:
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