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CEDAW and the Law:
provide appropriate preparation for the care of the child after returning to work. The
recommendation takes into account the de facto situation that women are the ones left with
the care of their children, but also to ensure women can equally enjoy the right to work.
Recommendation: It is suggested that the clause in Article 115 of ‘women raising
a child aged under 12 months’ be deleted. The period of 12 months could first be
shortened to six months, with a clear period for its eventual repeal.
Article 115 of the Labour Code provide for rest breaks for women for the same wage
during: (a) menstruation, a female employee is entitled to a break of 30 minutes every day;
and (b) the period of raising a child aged under 12 months, a female employee is entitled to a
break of 60 minutes every day. The Decree on Labour Violations provides penalties for
violations of these provisions. 489 In relation to (b), this provision is in place not simply to enable
women to provide care to the child, who in many cases crèches and kindergartens can do, but
to ensure that women are provided opportunities for breastfeeding.
Transfer to lighter duties
Article 112 of the Labour Code provides that, where there is a doctor’s certificate stating that
continued employment would adversely affect the health of the foetus, pregnant women have
the right to unilaterally terminate their labour contracts and they are not liable for
compensation. This is elaborated in Article 10 of the Decree on Women Labourers, which
states that an employer has to move immediately pregnant women who are working on
assignments that carry risks to the health of their foetus to another job within the enterprise
that is suitable, when there is a written certificate by a doctor. If the employer is unable to do
so, pregnant women have the right to unilaterally terminate the labour contract. 490 Lastly,
female employees who are employed in heavy work and in the seventh month of pregnancy
must be transferred to lighter duties or entitled to work one hour less every day and still receive
the same wage. 491
Recommendation: It should be clearly stipulated that, in cases of transfer to
lighter duties, except in cases of promotion, after pregnancy, women will be reassigned
to their former positions without loss of any benefits or seniority on account of their
pregnancy or maternity.
Training
228
Article 14(5)(a) of the Law on Gender Equality provides as one of the measures to promote
equality the provision proportion of men and women participating in study and training. 492
Article 110 of the Labour Code states: “State bodies shall be responsible for the expansion of
various forms of training which are favourable to female workers in order to enable women to
gain an additional skill or trade and to facilitate the employment of female workers suitable to
their biological and physiological characteristics as well as their role as a mother”.
489
Ibid., Article 15(1)(c) and Article 15(1)(d)
490
Decree on Women’s Labourers, Article 10
491
Labour Code, Article 115
492
Law on Gender Equality, Article 14(5)(a)
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW