Maternity and cash benefits must be routed through social insurance or public funds or non-contributive social assistance | Photocredit: Triloks
The recent orientation point of the Supreme Court on K UMA Devi vs State or Tamil Nadu pronounced on 23 May is important for recognizing pregnancy rights as a fundamental law (FR) on the basis of Article 21 of the Constitution.
The judgment is praised as historical, which marks considerable progress in the protection of the rights of working women, promoting job security and guaranteeing access to mothers and childcare.
The court comes from earlier judgments about the issues of reproductive rights and pregnancy benefits.
The most striking feature of the judgment is the length at which the court referred to international conventions and instruments, ie universal declaration of human rights, the economic and social council of the United Nations, Convention on the elimination of all forms of women’s discrimination (CEDAW), Pregnancy Convention (2000) of the C183 (ILIGE) of the Purio) of the P183 (2000) of the C183 (2000) of the EILODO) of the C183 (2000) of the C183 (2000) and the EILODO) and the EILODO) and the EILODO -OMODO) and the ILOLOOS). Protection ‘To work Women Before and Social Protection’ To Work Women Before and Social Protection ‘to Work Women Before and Social Protection’ to Work Birth.
In short, ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention C183, apart from promoting the right to use to use maternity leave, acknowledges that women are restored to the same position after pregnancy interruption.
The judgment is timely in the context of tackling the challenges with which women are confronted during their employment, their food in the labor force and their overall well -being.
MB Act
The court has taken note of the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 as ‘normative framework’ to draw up legal rights with service conditions of women’s employment without any discrimination. The court recognized ‘women are now considerably part of the workforce’ and the state is ‘obliged to act’ to deliver reproductive material rights to the employee of women in the country to guarantee their equal participation in workforce.
It has been noted that in countries with effective maternity protection and care policy the number of women in staff has increased considerably and they have remained a longer duration.
IAO report on ‘care at work: investing in care leave and services for a more gender -similar world of work’ in 2022 on the basis of a study among 185 countries, informed that 123 countries had provisions for fully paid pregnancy leave, which benefits 90 percent of mothers worldwide, although leaving payment in 13 countries less than two -thirds of the previous wages.
However, India has become a member of the competition of 42 countries that offer a maximum of paid leave (26 weeks) for more than 18 weeks, ie the C183 of IAO in detail and is one of the top countries around the world.
Now the MB Act covers adoption and commissioning mothers with 12 weeks of maternity leave benefits since 2017, together with flexible work options. The court acknowledged the importance of an adequate and generous pregnancy arrangement for women’s work, because motherhood is not just a welfare provision; It enables a female employee to stay at work and also enables her to balance the competing demands of work and family life while maintaining its efficiency and output.
Although it is a milestone judgment, K Uma Devi versus the state of the TN case also raises various relevant questions. Will the coverage of pregnancy law be limited as fundamental law to only female employees in ‘public sector’ or is it universally applied to all women, either in the service of permanent/regular/FTEs/contractual or in a standard or non-standard form of work?
Financing problems
Secondly, what about women in the informal sector that make up the majority of women’s staff? How do they streamline in the fold of this judgment? If employers cannot argue ignorance or can avoid the costs of motherhood without any exemption or limitations, the most important question relates to the financing of this fundamental law.
For large business and conglomerates, financing the maternity rights was never a problem, but the challenge remains with the employers of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Even ILO recognizes these financial implications for individual employers who bear the double costs of maternity leave and also the costs of replacing employees.
ILO standards have shown that employers may not be individually liable for direct costs of pregnancy and cash benefits; On the contrary, it must be routed through social insurance or public funds or non-contributive social assistance, in particular for women in the informal sector and independent women. Such initiatives can lead to discriminatory practices on the labor market being curbed.
In the Indian context, this financing section has always been an elephant in the Chamber, while the pregnancy benefit takes care of working women.
For example, first maternity protection legislation of the country, omz Bombay Maternity Benefit Act of 1929, had prescribed for ‘non-consistions’ and pregnancy benefits financed by the employer for women’s workers in the factory.
Although the Supreme Court has recognized the spirit of pregnancy legislation, ie MB Act and the adequacy and scope of the coverage of legislation, its effective implementation depends on solid ‘support institutions for financing this fundamental law’.
From a policy perspective, a well-developed pregnancy financing system, such as a universal maternity fund that is in line with ILO guidelines, can help tackle the existing gaps in financing pregnancy benefits.
The IAO’s World Social Protection Report 2024-26 said that different countries have mixed models about pregnancy financing, with a majority of those who have led it through social insurance, national social security systems and tax-finance-related employers who covered full costs.
To make the Uma Devi judgment ‘a living reality of many millions of women of this country, we must learn from experiences and best practices about pregnancy financing around the world.
These experiences can play an important role in tackling the challenges in expanding pregnancy benefits to the informal sector and those in temporary jobs.
Samantroy is Fellow, VV Giri National Labor Institute, Ministry of Labor and Employment; Tiwari is Regional Labor Commissioner (Central), Thiruvananthapuram. Views are personal
Published on June 21, 2025
#Financing #pregnancy #rights #India