The Legislative Yuan passed the "Gender Equality Work Law" on the third reading, increasing maternity leave to 14 weeks and extending paternity leave to 14 days.

The Legislative Yuan passed the "Gender Equality Work Law" on the third reading today (13th), relaxing the period of childcare leave without pay until the age of 9, and increasing the maternity leave from the current 8 weeks to 14 weeks. The picture shows Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu banging the gavel. (Photo by reporter Tian Yuhua)

The Legislative Yuan passed the "Gender Equality Work Law" on the third reading today (13th). The period of childcare leave without pay will be relaxed to before the age of 9, and maternity leave will be "increased from the current 8 weeks to 14 weeks"; those who have a pregnancy more than 3 months and have a miscarriage will have 4 weeks of paid abortion leave; those who are pregnant for 2 to 3 months For those who miscarry in the first month of pregnancy, the paid abortion leave will be "increased from 1 week to 2 weeks"; for those who unfortunately miscarry less than 2 months pregnant, the paid abortion leave will be "extended from 5 days to 10 days"; paternity examination and paternity leave will be "increased from 7 days to 14 days", which is expected to be implemented on January 1 next year.

Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu convened consultations on the "Draft Amendment to Certain Articles of the Gender Equality Work Act" this morning. Regarding the "maternity leave days part" of Article 15 of the bill, the Executive Yuan version plans to extend the current maternity leave from 8 weeks to "12 weeks", with wages exceeding 8 weeks being subsidized by the government, and adding "10 working days" of maternity check-up leave.

However, the version of the Kuomintang League and the People's Party League advocates that maternity leave should be extended from the current 8 weeks to "14 weeks"; for those who have a pregnancy of more than 2 months but less than 3 months, the maternity leave should be extended from 1 week to "2 weeks"; for those who have a pregnancy less than 2 months, the maternity leave should be extended from 5 days to "10 days".

Labor Minister Hong Shenhan explained today that according to the Executive Yuan version of the plan, "maternity leave" is 12 weeks plus "prenatal check-up leave" is 10 days, which is essentially 14 weeks. However, Kuomintang legislator Chen Jinghui disagreed and said that the days should not be calculated together. Some people will take maternity leave starting from the 36th week of pregnancy. Only by giving a complete 14 weeks of maternity leave can pregnant women have sufficient rest. After consultation, the resolution provisions were retained and sent to the hospital committee for processing.

The Legislative Yuan held a meeting this afternoon and passed the third reading of the articles, including: "Maternity leave will be increased to 14 weeks; those who have a pregnancy more than 3 months of pregnancy will be given 4 weeks of paid abortion leave; those who have a pregnancy of 2 to 3 months, will be given 2 weeks of paid abortion leave; Those who have a miscarriage under 2 months will be given 10 days of paid abortion leave; paternity leave is extended from 7 days to 14 days; flexible parental leave is increased from 30 days to 60 days, a total of 120 days for both parents; the period of childcare leave without pay is relaxed to before the age of 9, etc.

The Legislative Yuan's "Gender Equality Work Law" was revised, and members of the three parties held placards in support of extending maternity leave to 14 weeks. (Photo by reporter Tian Yuhua)