Following a recent landmark judgment by the South African High Court, parents will now be entitled to jointly share four months and ten days of parental leave. Under the current law, mothers are granted four months of leave, while fathers only receive ten days.
The matter was brought to court by a Polokwane couple, Werner and Ika van Wyk, Sonke Gender Justice and the Commission for Gender Equality among other organizations. The ruling states that the provisions of the current BCEA regulating parental leave offend against sections 9 and 10 of the South African Constitution, as they unfairly discriminate between mothers and fathers.
Sonke views this ruling as an important first step in the right direction for advancing people’s rights. ‘As Sonke, we had advocated for four months of parental leave for each parent. While the outcome did not fully meet our expectations, we welcome the court’s recognition that the BCEA provisions limiting parental leave for other parents are discriminatory’’ Policy Development and Advocacy Manager, Mpiwa Mangwiro-Tsanga highlighted.
Under the new law, both employed parents are required to agree on how to divide the four months and ten days of parental leave, including whether to take it concurrently, consecutively, or through a combination of both. In cases where only one of the parents is employed, that parent is entitled to four months leave, single employed parents are also entitled to four months of parental leave.
‘We consider this judgement to be a landmark in the leave regime of our country contributing to the strengthening of our democratic project and in particular the values of justice and equality. The judgement places our country among trail blazing nations seeking to affirm the culture of gender equality. It is our view that this is an important start to ensure that we follow in the good examples set by the Scandanavian and a couple of European countries’’ said Bafana Khumalo, Sonke’s Co-Executive Director.
Sonke and together with its partners remain committed to lobbying for an even improved leave regime building on this good start offered by the high court. We urge the legislation to embark on the amendment of the leave regime as ordered by the constitutional court without undue delays.
ENDS/
Issued by Sonke Gender Justice.
For media enquiries contact:
Kgomotso Mophulane, Communications & Strategic Information Manager, Sonke Gender Justice on kgomotso@genderjustice.org.za or 0835196187.
Bafana Khumalo, Co-Executive Director, Sonke Gender Justice, bafana@genderjustice.org.za or 082 5784479.
NOTE TO EDITORS
Sonke is a South African-based non-profit organisation working throughout Africa. We believe women and men, girls and boys can work together to resist patriarchy, advocate for gender justice, and achieve gender transformation. For media releases, reports and news visit https://genderjustice.org.za/ and https://genderjustice.org.za/newsletter-signup/
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