Bottles and diapers, or laptops and meetings. . . Young mothers are often torn by their simultaneous desire to stay home with their child or return to paid employment. Statistics Canada looked at the consequences of the birth of a child on women’s careers
Published in December 2007, the study investigated the return of women to work after childbirth. The first finding was that there are more women going back to work after maternity leave than 20 years ago. In the 1980s, about 8% of Canadian mothers left the work force in the three years following the birth of a child; this rate had dropped to less than 6% by the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s.
Another finding was that both short-term and long-term employment rates were consistently lower than that of other women active in the work force (1984 to 2004 numbers). While the short-term employment rate of mothers increased between 1984 and 1999, it then decreased starting in 2000. Among mothers who gave birth in 1984, the employment rate was 84% in the post-childbirth year. It reached 91% among those who gave birth in 1999 before dropping to 87% at the beginning of the new millennium.
As for earnings, the trend is down rather than up. In the 1980s, the birth of a child decreased the earnings of mothers by about 28% in the same year, increasing to 30% in the 1990s and about 33% after 2000. While the drop is larger, it recovers more quickly as well.
All the same, the condition of young mothers is tending to improve. The increase in maternity benefits from employment insurance encourages them to take leave, while job-protected maternity leave helps them go back to work with their pre-childbirth employer.
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Maternity and parental leave: Canadian law
=> Maternity leave: It allows the mother to take a leave of absence from work in the period following the birth of a child.
– Under certain conditions, an employee who gives birth may be entitled to unpaid leave of 17 or 18 weeks. Upon her return, the employee normally goes back to her old job or is assigned equivalent duties at the same salary and benefits.
– Federally, an employer may not fire, lay off or downgrade an employee because she is pregnant or plans to take maternity leave. In addition, employers may not use pregnancy as an excuse to refuse promotions or training.
– During maternity leave, eligible employees may receive maternity benefits via employment insurance for 15 weeks following a two-week waiting period.
– Some employers have a top-up benefits plan that partly makes up for the difference between maternity benefits from employment insurance and the employee’s salary.
=> Parental leave: It allows the father and/or mother to take care of a new child, whether natural or adopted.
– In all Canadian jurisdictions, employees are entitled to unpaid parental leave that varies from 12 to 52 weeks
– During their parental leave, eligible employees can receive parental leave benefits via employment insurance.
– In all Canadian jurisdictions except Manitoba, Quebec and the Yukon, the length of maternity and parental leave combined may not exceed 52 weeks