Why Goa needs a mothers’ rights act -by Nandkumar Kamat

Why Goa needs a mothers’ rights act....
(published in The Navhind Times, July 7,2008)
It is strange but true. The law makers of the state of Goa have conveniently forgotten the mothers. Mothers traveling in public transport face humiliation. Lactating mothers have to curtail their movements because public premises and workplaces are not friendly to them. But such problems would be brushed aside when the government would celebrate world breastfeeding week next month. Scooter sheds, bus shelters have top priority but public funded day care centers for pre school children are considered a luxury. Goa is not a working mother friendly state. Neither the Goa state women’s commission nor the State children’s commission have come to the rescue of the suffering mothers. The much publicized-Goa Childrens’ act, 2003 has ignored mothers and normal children as if the act is meant only for orphaned children. This was expected because the act was born more out of concern about child abuse than a holistic consideration of children with or without mothers and families. The act may be friendly to a particular section of disadvantaged children but it completely ignores the human rights of mothers and especially working mothers. Section 2 includes legal definitions of the terms used in the act but nowhere ‘mother ‘ finds a place. Elsewhere, the term ‘mother’ occurs only three times. Those who had put this lengthy act together seem to have borrowed many sections heavily from similar statutes in developed countries but conveniently forgot to incorporate the best policies, guidelines and practices for respecting the human rights of mothers. The International Labour organization (ILO) , convention 183 –maternity protection convention, 2000 has been also forgotten. Those who drafted the act seem to have been ignorant about the campaign launched by world alliance for breastfeeding action (WABA) and voluminous information and free guidance available from La Leche league international. It is relatively easy to get politically harmless acts like the Goa childrens’ act through the assembly but when it comes to addressing the real issues confronting Goa’s mothers very few stand up to speak about their human rights. The falling birth rate of Goa is not a good news. If it is not checked by enacting a mother friendly legislation then it is likely to fall to zero in two decades. The birth rate has gone below the replacement rate not because people hate babies but the new parents, most of them educated and employed have to first think seriously about a baby friendly, mother friendly support system. Such a system does not exist in Goa and the one created by the private players among the market forces in the name of preschool education is absolutely substandard, unregulated and basically purely business and income oriented. That also explains the reason why under tremendous pressure from these private service providers the government rushed through a shocking amendment in 2005 to subsection 3 of section 5 of the above act. It is a common knowledge that to look after the children, families in Goa used to hire domestic help-mostly girls below 18 years of age. Section 7 of the above act banned employment of such ‘maids”. So automatically the parents were forced to patronize the private day care centers. The state government needed some persuasion to include a scheme for day care centers in the present budget but the guidelines are yet to be framed. The government and the NGOs are silent about breastfeeding legislation as if it is an issue to be sorted out by the mothers themselves. Fortunately it was the sixth pay commission which has understood the problems of mothers, especially the employed ones. Its’ recommendations (chapter 4.7) would be welcomed by the mothers. The commission opined that-“ adequate facilities need to be provided to ensure that more women take up public employment and to enable them to balance the dual responsibilities of looking after children and work.” The commission has recommended staggered working hours for mothers, leave upto two years for taking care of upto two children, mandatory setting up of day care centers and crèches in offices where the employees male and female have pre school or primary school going children, and continuation of maternity leave to two years. But really these are basic, common sense and humanitarian issues which should have mattered to the architects of Goa childrens’ act and the state department of women and child development. The gender transition in higher education in Goa is leading to emergence of a large number of highly educated women who would suddenly find that if they decide to get married and also find employment, then it would be critical decision for them before thinking of the motherhood. Not every woman would think of sacrificing the job and willingly accept the role of the full time homemaker. But if as working mothers they are provided a friendly and accommodative, loving and caring environment then it would be consistent with the opinion of the sixth pay commission. The new mothers of Goa would need gender sensitive policies to support and sustain their motherhood. This includes simple issues such as right to free counseling, subsidized diet and maternal nutrition, compulsory feeding of colostrum immediately after delivery and full recognition of breastfeeding rights. The USA has some of the most progressive breastfeeding legislations, which would put the country of Mahatma Gandhi to shame. NGOs working to champion rights of women and children may study the best of these statutes and verify the tragic situation in Goa. Many employers have issued warnings to their female employees who are forced to carry the preschool kids to the work place, saying that they dislike such a practice. Several such instances of injustice against working mothers could be cited. The government could not make any progress on State action plan for children, 1995 sponsored by UNICEF. The Goa Childrens’a act , 2003 has been used to strengthen the hands of private day care service providers. There is a universal crisis of compassion in the Goan society today. That leads to frequent breaches of human rights of mothers. A helpless working mother sits with a year old child in an office canteen. Some boys enter. The child accidentally comes in the way of one of the boy. He just kicks the child. Another boy just looks at the shell shocked mother and says bluntly-‘let him die’. This is a real story. Children are being treated as legal commodities. Mothers are being treated as dispensable machines. Therefore Goa needs to enact an effective mother friendly legislation –the Goa mothers’ rights act’ before the birth rate falls to zero. Only a mother friendly state would be a child friendly state. But to achieve both we may need a flood of heartfelt compassion.