A group of women human rights defenders have called for parental leave in Thailand to be made more inclusive by extending it to unmarried partners and family members.

The Women Human Rights Defenders Collective in Thailand filed a petition with the Senate ad-hoc committee drafting the Labour Protection bill last Tuesday (26 August) calling on the committee to amend the bill so that employees would be entitled to 15 days of paid leave to take care of married or unmarried partners or other family members who have just given birth.

Pranom Somwong of Protection International (PI) said that, while the collective welcomes the increase of paid maternity leave to 120 days, they are concerned that only legally married partners can take a paid parental leave to care for their partner and baby. She noted that many women in Thailand are not legally married to their partners, and said that limiting parental leave to married partners would be discriminatory, denying many women their legal rights.

Pranom added that as women make up 47% of the Thai workforce and protecting them is a matter of human dignity and social stability. She also said that Thailand has obligations under international agreements, including the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Maternity Protection Recommendation which states that maternity leave should be increased to at least 18 weeks (126 days) and workers should be fully paid during that time. This latter document also recommends that workers be provided with breastfeeding breaks and facilities at the workplace.

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which Thailand is a signatory, further stipulates that men and women have equal responsibilities in family rights, while the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) calls for the right to paid parental leave, protection for mothers and children, and a reduction of systematic inequality.

According to Pranom, the CEDAW committee recently called on Thailand to eradicate gender stereotypes and ensure that all women in the workforce are protected, including informal and migrant workers.

To assure that Thailand’s Labour Protection Bill is in line with the country’s realities and international obligations, Pranom said that the Collective is calling on the Senate Committee to amend its Section 41 to make sure that employees will be entitled to a 15-day paid leave to care for their partners, regardless of whether they are legally married, or their other family members who had given birth.

According to Pranom, the Collective is aware that amending the bill could delay it but concerns remain that the current draft will not protect the rights of many women workers and their families. Amending it, on the other hand, will improve the rights of mothers and caregivers, something that Thailand must do to meet its international human rights obligations.

Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, agreed that unmarried women who give birth will be adversely affected if their partners are not entitled to 15-day leave. Having heard from labour networks that most women workers who give birth are not married to their partners, she feels that limiting leave to married partners would mean that mothers and newborns will not be taken care of the way the bill is intended to do.

Angkhana is proposing a motion to amend the bill so that both married and unmarried partners, as well as parents and siblings, would be entitled to the 15-day leave.

In July, the House of Representatives passed in the second and third readings the Labour Protection bill, which proposes to increase paid maternity leave from 90 to 120 days as well as allow employees whose parents have given birth to take 15 days of paid parental leave.

The bill was forwarded to the Senate, which subsequently approved it in the first reading and formed a committee to work on the draft. Senator Wirat Rakpan, chair of the committee, said that the bill is expected to be returned to the Senate by 30 October.