In the UAE, August 28 has been declared as Emirati Women’s Day for good reason. As women of this country, we have a lot to celebrate: We rank among the top three countries regionally in the Global Gender Gap Report (2015), we have successfully entered the majority of fields and have great examples of female leaders across the board. In my article published in Gulf News on August 18, titled ‘UAE’s female workforce instrumental to country’s growth’, I had addressed some of the difficulties I encountered as a working mother. What prompted me to share my experience, including the smallest details that escape an employer’s attention for the most part, was the announcement of the committee that was formed to review the UAE’s maternity law to come up with solutions that can help a working mother better balance her job with her role in the family. Today, and as a follow up, I write to propose a few practical solutions with the hope that the committee will find some benefit and direction in them, particularly in ways to make longer maternity leaves possible.

Developed countries around the world, specifically in Europe, have proved that longer maternity leaves and lower productivity do not necessarily go hand in hand. Norway, for example, ranks first in the world on the Human Development Index (HDI) and it offers expectant mothers up to 11 weeks of paid-leave before their due date and 49 weeks of maternity leave afterwards. Denmark, the world’s happiest nation, ranks fourth on the HDI and offers expectant mothers four weeks of maternity leave before having the baby, as well as up to 52 weeks of parental leave after the child is born. The country with the most generous maternity leave, however, is Sweden. It currently ranks 14th on the HDI and offers new mothers/parents 56 weeks of paid leave at 80 per cent of citizens’ salary, and 13 additional weeks paid at a fixed rate thereafter.

The UAE currently offers maternity leaves of 60 calendar days (8 weeks) with 100 per cent pay, giving new mothers very little time to recover from child birth and bond with their newborn. There are plenty of obvious benefits for longer maternity leaves, for both the mother and child, including the mother’s ability to breastfeed her child longer. Babies who are breast-fed are less likely to get a variety of infections and are also at lower risk for asthma, obesity and sudden infant-death syndrome. There are benefits to mothers, too, as women who breast-feed are less likely to get breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease — ailments that are sadly on the rise in the UAE.

We as parents and employees understand that there is a general sense of anxiety over extended maternity leaves and their possible economic implications. However, studies have actually shown that the long-term benefits by far outweigh the short-term inconveniences that can definitely be overcome. A study in Germany found that wages decreased by 18 per cent every year an employee spent on parental leave. However, after the initial decrease in wages, the employee’s salary rebounded faster than the salary of someone who was not offered parental leave. In France, studies show that compared to women with no entitlement to paid maternity leaves, first-time mothers who took the paid leave were more likely to be employed after their leave and less likely to stay out of the labour force. Given how vital women are to today’s economic development in the UAE, losing more female employees due to short maternity leaves is bound to be a hindrance to our growth as a nation.

How can we make longer maternity leaves possible?

There are a number of steps (depending on the sector) employers can take to avoid disruption to productivity as a result of extended maternity leaves.

n Planning ahead

Motherhood comes with enough time to prepare both the parents and employers for what is to come. Most mothers let their employers know about their pregnancy at least six months before their due date, which provides for ample time to start planning for and training someone to temporarily take on her responsibilities. As a general rule, and in any organisation, every employee should have a replacement that can fill in for those who need to leave for whatever reason.

n Flexible hours and working from home

In today’s world, there is very little one cannot do from home with a working phone and internet connection. Many major corporations are recognising the benefits of creating a result-oriented work culture, where employees can work from anywhere, anytime as long as the job gets done. This will especially be useful for new mums, enabling them to work around their new unpredictable schedules.

n Part-time jobs

Introducing part-time job schemes for returning mothers can be a great way for them to ease back into their professional lives without compromising long periods of quality time with their children.

n Maternity jobs

Over the past few years, maternity jobs (which are basically temporary positions left vacant by mothers on maternity leave until their return to their workplace) have become quite popular in Europe. Maternity jobs are great for operational and junior positions that can easily be filled by people looking for short-term employment, and for employers who want to continue business as usual in the absence of new mothers.

n Daddy months

One of the things that make Nordic countries’ (and a couple of other European countries) parental leave models interesting is that they successfully included fathers in their parental leave scheme as early as the 1970s. We often neglect the important role fathers play in a child’s life. Luckily, many Emirati young men choose to spend more time with their children nowadays, throwing away traditional views about a father’s limited role of simply providing for the children financially. The paternity leave duration in the UAE is at three days and gives a father just enough time to process paperwork before having to go back to work again. Giving fathers longer paternity leaves will allow parents to share the duties of parenthood, help the father bond with his children and allow the mother to return to work knowing that the children are in the safe hands of the other parent.

n Day-care facilities

We cannot realistically call for six-month maternity leaves across all sectors, since the nature of jobs and schedules differ across sectors. It could be very difficult to offer teachers long maternity leaves, for instance, because that will disrupt students’ learning. In such cases, we must consider day-care facilities within office buildings to make coming back to work easier for new mothers, who will then be able to bring their children with them.

The female population of the UAE represents a pool of untapped potential, even with all the great things they have accomplished since the beginning of the union. Upon completion of high school, 95 per cent of Emirati women continue on to higher education and they constitute 70 per cent of the total number of college graduates in the UAE. Emirati females constituted 66 per cent of the total public-sector workforce as of 2010.

Yet, approximately a quarter of Emirati women work outside their homes. Emirati women have soared to great heights with the support of the country and its leadership, but this is only the beginning. With more support, we will utilise the potential of many more women to push our nation to greater development and raise future generations that truly value the remarkable energy, intellect and work ethic of the Emirati woman.

Happy Emirati Women’s day!

Maria Hanif is an Emirati writer from Dubai. You can follow her on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/maria_hanif.