Women would be denied long-standing legal rights under a plan to replace the term “maternity leave” with “birth-related leave”, opponents say.
The proposal to introduce ‘gender neutral language’ is one of a number of changes being considered to Queensland’s workplace laws, following an independent five-year review.
But opponents have labelled one of the proposals – to scrap the term “maternity leave” because the language implies ‘gendered division’ of parental care – as regressive and alarming.
Gribble, who last week gave evidence at a public hearing into the proposed changes to the Act, said the planned amendments were an attempt to deny women their legal rights.
“It is very concerning they are not recognising maternity leave is a right that women hold, and it exists to enable them to recover from pregnancy and birth and care for their newborn baby, including breastfeeding,” Gribble said.
“Removing that recognition in legislation, with the explicit aim of encouraging or promoting the idea that it shouldn’t be normal for mothers to be the primary caregivers of their newborns, is alarming.”
As well as proposing to drop the “maternity leave” definition, the bill also seeks to remove gendered language such as “she” to “employee”.
Principal at the Feminist Legal Clinic, Anna Kerr, has described as a “travesty” the Queensland government’s proposal to drop the term “maternity leave”.
“The failure to acknowledge the need for sex-based rights in relation to childbearing is clearly an attack on women’s rights and should be strongly resisted,” Kerr said.
Karleen Gribble says there has been a desire to gain equality by saying men and women are the same, “but when it comes to reproduction, the roles they play are very different and the repercussions are very different”.
Source: Experts slam Queensland government plan to replace ‘maternity leave’ with new term | 7NEWS