New Zealand’s parliament unanimously approved a bill Thursday that would give women workers the right to paid leave after miscarriage or stillbirth. The law is the first of its kind worldwide.
Not only a pregnant woman, but also her partners is entitled to a three-day vacation. In surrogacy, everyone involved takes paid leave after a miscarriage or stillbirth. After losing, they no longer had to report illness to the employer.
According to law-initiator Jenny Anderson, it’s important to acknowledge parental grief on a special vacation. “The grief associated with miscarriage is not a disease. It is a loss and this loss takes time: time to recover physically and time to recover mentally.”
The parliamentarian says there is a taboo about it, which makes it difficult for people to talk about it. She hopes the new law will lead to more openness about miscarriages and stillbirth.
Anderson said that with the introduction of the additional leave, Parliament in Wellington continues to play its leading role on women’s rights. With this it refers, among other things, to the right of women to vote that New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce.
