(PO26-02-22) Paid Maternity Leave in Vietnam: Awareness, Perceptions, Gaps, and Uptake Among Formally Employed Pregnant Women and Mothers of Infants

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Presenting Author(s)

Tuan Thanh Nguyen, MD, PhD
– Technical Specialist in Measurement, Learning & Evaluation, Alive & Thrive, FHI 360, Hanoi, Ha Noi, Vietnam

Co-Author(s)

JC

Jennifer T. Cashin
– FHI 360/Solutions
HT

Ha T. Tran
– Research and Training Center for Community Development
DV

Duong H. Vu
– FHI 360/Solutions
AN

Arijit Nandi
– McGill University
MP

Minh T. Pham
– Vietnam Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs
VN

Van Nguyen
– Research and Training Center for Community Development
AW

Amy Weissman, PhD
– APRO, FHI 360, Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
BN

Binh V. Nguyen
– Vietnam Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs
TP

Toan N. Pham
– Vietnam Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs
RM

Roger T. Mathisen
– FHI 360/Solutions

Disclosure(s):

Tuan Thanh Nguyen, MD, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: To examine the uptake of Vietnam’s paid maternity leave policy in terms of entitlements and awareness, perceptions, and gaps in implementation through the lens of formally employed female workers.

Methods: In this mixed methods study, we interviewed 494 formally employed female workers, among whom 107 were pregnant and 387 were mothers of infants and conducted in-depth interviews with a subset of these women (n = 39).

Results: Of the 494 women interviewed, 268 (54.3%) were working in blue-collar jobs and more than 90% were contributing to the public social insurance fund. Among the 387 mothers on paid maternity leave, 51 (13.2%) did not receive cash entitlements during their leave. Among the 182 mothers with infants aged 6–11 months, 30 (16.5%) returned to work before accruing 180 days of maternity leave. Of 121 women who had returned to work, 26 (21.5%) did not receive a one-hour paid break every day to express breastmilk, relax or breastfeed, and 46 (38.0%) worked the same or more hours per day than before maternity leave. Although most women perceived maternity leave as beneficial for the child’s health (92.5%), mother’s health (91.5%), family (86.2%), and society (90.7%), fewer women perceived it as beneficial for their income (59.5%), career (46.4%), and employers (30.4%). Not all formally employed women were aware of their maternity protection rights: women were more likely to mention the six-month paid maternity leave (78.7%) and one-hour nursing break (62.3%) than the other nine entitlements (2.0–35.0%). In-depth interviews with pregnant women and mothers of infants supported findings from the quantitative survey.

Conclusions: Although Vietnam’s maternity protection policy helps protect the rights of women and children, our study identified implementation gaps that limit its effectiveness. In order to ensure that all women and their families can fully benefit from maternity protection, there is a need to increase awareness of the full set of maternity entitlements, strengthen enforcement of existing policies, and expand entitlements to the informal sector.

Funding Sources: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant Number OPP50838) and Irish Aid