Newly elected Member of Parliament Engineer Mahbuba Hakim has called for eliminating disparities in maternity leave benefits between government and private-sector female employees.
In a statement that she was unable to fully deliver during the budget discussion in Parliament on June 22 due to time constraints, the MP highlighted a key limitation of what she described as a gender-friendly budget.
She noted that while women employed in government service receive six months of maternity leave, female workers in the private sector, including the textile and garment industries where more than 60 percent of the workforce are women, are entitled to only four months of maternity leave under the Bangladesh Labour Act.
Through the Speaker, Mahbuba Hakim urged the Finance Minister to consider measures in the current fiscal year's budget to remove this disparity.
“Can we not formulate the budget in such a way that there is no discrimination in maternity leave between government and private-sector working women?” she asked.
The MP emphasized that ensuring equal maternity benefits would be an important step toward strengthening women's rights and promoting workplace equality in Bangladesh.
