Maternity Leave Saves Lives, and So Does Parental Leave - by Camille Saunders
Mother’s Day has just passed on Sunday 15th March, and while we are appreciating our mums and caregivers, it feels like a great opportunity to look at their rights: namely, maternity leave. In this article, I will explore why maternity leave is so crucial, what maternity leave means in different countries, the accessibility of paternity or parental leave, and the impact this has both on the health of the parents and child.
Maternity leave refers to the period of time a mother can recover from childbirth and supervise the survival of her newborn, without fearing unemployment. In the UK 45% of mothers give birth by C-section, a surgical procedure involving cutting open the lower abdomen, 44% by natural vaginal birth, involving high levels of pain and risks of tearing, and the remaining 11% needing intervention such as extraction by forceps, which can be both physically and emotionally traumatic (BBC, 2025). Therefore, letting the body rest postpartum is vital. In addition, 75% of all neonatal deaths worldwide occur within the first week of life, with the first month being the most vulnerable period for child survival (WHO, 2024). Therefore, new babies need constant attention and supervision for their own life expectancy. This tension between maternal and newborn health leads to exhaustion and overwhelm, and highlights some of the many reasons why women cannot be expected to return straight to work after delivery.
However, the length of that maternity leave varies hugely per country, and by company. In the UK, you can claim up to 52 weeks in total, but you must take 2 weeks at least (HM Government, 2026). Bulgaria offers the longest paid maternity leave with 58 weeks at 90% of normal pay, followed by Greece with 56 weeks at 60% pay, and the United Kingdom with 39 weeks at 29% pay. Most OECD counties offered much less time between 10 and 20 weeks, but at a higher rate of pay between 80 and 100% (OECD, 2025) – Graph 1. In addition, some countries offer homecare leave, which varies by country, but refers to supplemental leave for a parent to remain with a child in the early months of their life, which is usually unpaid (OECD, 2025) – Graph 2. Thus your rights as a mother can be vastly impacted by your country of residence and your employer.
In addition, offering paternity leave can encourage fathers to bond with their newborns, and to help mothers juggle postpartum recovery with new-parent responsibilities. In the UK, an employee can take up to 2 weeks, and as of April 2026, partners of mothers can also claim up to 52 weeks’ unpaid bereaved partner’s leave where needed (ACAS, 2026). Across the OECD, a maximum of 200 weeks may technically be allocated to the father: the following graph shows the combination of paternity leave and transferrable parental leave – Graph 3. In contrast, we can see that regarding ungendered parental leave, the vast majority of early parenting responsibilities are still undertaken by women (OECD, 2025) – Graph 4.
Parental leave has considerable positive effects, both for the mother and the child. In research done across the USA, it was shown that access to maternity leave led to an increase in birth weight, a decrease in the likelihood of a premature birth, and a substantial decrease in the likelihood of infant mortality; the mortality risk was also heavily reduced by having a college-educated, married mother, as this was the demographic who was most likely to be economically able to take full advantage of their unpaid leave (Rossin, 2013). In a different study using global data, each additional month of paid maternity leave saw infant mortality reduce by 13% in low- and middle-income countries (Nandi et al., 2016). Furthermore, parental leave undertaken by both parents alleviates stress, including alleviating symptoms of postpartum mental health disorders (Heshmati et al., 2023). In Denmark, longer parental leave reduced the probability of a mother having a diagnosable psychiatric disorder in the child’s early years, with a particular improvement for lower-income and single women (Courtin et al., 2022). Therefore, the health benefits for both the mother and child are evident, highlighting its vital importance. It can also be inferred that without the maternity leave being paid, mothers must rely on their socio-economic background, exacerbating existing inequalities in their physical health, mental health and quality of life.
In conclusion, access to paid maternity leave is crucial for new parents and newborn babies, and should be treated as a fundamental right. Furthermore, sharing early parenting obligations with a partner has tangible health benefits both for the primary caregiver and the baby, and paid paternity leave should thus be expanded to be more accessible to all families, regardless of economic background. Finally, extending the length of paid parental leave can have direct benefits to all the family, and result in happier and healthier humans. Parental leave should thus be paid, accessible to both parents, and of a medically recommended length.
NB. This article uses heteronormative terms, but in no way seeks to undermine both the beauty and complexity of queer family structures.
by Camille Saunders
‘Maternity pay and leave’, 2025, HM Government, https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/leave
CLEGG, R., ‘Caesarean sections overtake natural vaginal births for the first time’, 17th Dec 2025, BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yqjezrnj4o
‘Newborn mortality’, 14th Mar 2024, World Health Organisation, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/newborn-mortality#:~:text=Most%20neonatal%20deaths%20(75%25),10%20%E2%80%93%20in%202000%20and%202022
‘Parental Leave Systems’, 2025, OECD, https://webfs.oecd.org/els-com/Family_Database/PF2_1_Parental_leave_systems.pdf
‘Paternity Leave Rights’, 2026, ACAS, https://www.acas.org.uk/paternity-rights-leave-and-pay
‘Paid leave for fathers: Recent OECD policy trends’, 2025, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/10/paid-leave-for-fathers_f7302e2e/07442bed-en.pdf
ROSSIN, M., ‘The Effects of Maternity Leave on Children's Birth and Infant Health Outcomes in the United States’, 2nd Jul 2013, National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3698961/#:~:text=Using%20Vital%20Statistics%20data%20and,as%20across%20several%20different%20specifications
NANDI, A., HAJIZADEH, M., HARPER, S., KOSKI, A., STRUMPF, E. C., HEYMANN, J., ‘Increased Duration of Paid Maternity Leave Lowers Infant Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Quasi-Experimental Study’, 29th Mar, 2016, PLOS Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001985
HESHMATI, A., HONKANIEMI, H., JUÁREZ, S. P., ‘The effect of parental leave on parents’ mental health: a systematic review’, Jan 2023, The Lancet, Public Health, Vol 8:1, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(22)00311-5/fulltext
COURTIN, E., RIECKMANN, A., BENGTSSON, J., NAFILYAN, V., MELCHIOR, M., BERKMAN, L., ROD, N. H., ‘The effect on women’s health of extending parental leave: a quasi-experimental registry-based cohort study’, Oct 2022, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 52:4, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyac198