Granting paid pregnancy leave would not be as expensive as imagined by business owners, the head of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday as it considers a plan allowing women to take time off when they are pregnant.

Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) chief Wang Ju-hsuan said at a news conference in Taipei that introducing a pregnancy leave plan, aimed at improving benefits for Taiwan's women, is one of the council's top priorities this year.

But whether pregnancy leave should be paid or unpaid has yet to be decided, and Wang said the issue would be discussed by relevant government agencies, including the "Ministry of the Interior" and the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

"I believe, however, that the cost of paid pregnancy leave would not be as high as imagined by some people," Wang said.

She had indicated Saturday that under the CLA's pregnancy leave plan, working women would be allowed to take up to one year of unpaid leave for pregnancy-related purposes.

Wang said at the time that many women have complained to her that although they experienced bleeding or potential miscarriage symptoms during their pregnancy, they were reluctant to ask for time off because there were no legal provisions for such leave.

In an effort to address the situation, the CLA will amend existing regulations governing leave of absence in May or June to allow for pregnancy leave, Wang said.

At yesterday's news conference called to mark the 100th anniversary of International Working Women's Day, Wang also summarized what Taiwan has achieved over the past eight years since the Gender Equality in Employment Act was passed and put into effect.

She said that when the act was first implemented, women's rights advocacy groups had worried that the law might deter businesses from hiring female employees.

In fact, however, the labor participation rate of women rose from 46.6 percent to 49.2 percent in 2009, up nearly 3 percentage points.

On the pregnancy leave issue, she said that not all pregnant workers would need to take pregnancy leave for the full nine months allowed, and only a couple of months would probably be enough for some.

It remains to be discussed whether employers should grant sick pay to women staff taking pregnancy leave, Wang said, adding that the CLA will seek to reach a consensus with other government agencies on the issue in the near future.

Regarding the unpaid child care leave system, Wang said that since the system was expanded to include male workers in May 2009, the number of applications has soared - up to 3,000 cases per month from the previous 3,000 cases per year.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 03/09/2010 page4)