Despite provisioning for maternity leave, Indian workplaces are hostile to mothers. Why?

In the case of women, the barriers to appointment are a result of the same conditions which make continued employment difficult. One of the major grounds of discrimination is the perceived child-rearing obligations of the mother. The law has stepped in and provisions have been made to secure certain maternity benefits for mothers. However, such legislation does not always result in achieving the desired result. Employers are reluctant to hire women because they fear that there would be additional costs in order to comply with egalitarian laws such as maternity benefits. Paradoxically, the greater the amount of protection afforded to women to account for their unequal status, the greater the compliance costs and hence greater the disincentive to hiring women.

While one might expect this thinking from the private sector, it is unfortunate that even the government has often taken a similar position. This, in spite of the fact that the Constitution states that “the State shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief”. One early example of this was the case of air hostesses working with Air India. The regulations provided that their services could be terminated if they got married within four years...

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