Between Cradle and Career: An Analysis of Legal Protections and Policy Gaps for Indian Working Mothers
Objective: This paper examines how Indian mothers navigate through the challenging terrain “between cradle and career” by critically examining the relationship between maternal and professional responsibilities. The Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, as amended in 2017, which requires 26 weeks of paid leave and includes provisions for creche facilities and remote work, is the primary focus of this paper. Although these legislative provisions provide financial stability and work security throughout the perinatal period, their actual enforcement reveals a major paradox. The longer leave period totally funded by the employer frequently serves as a double-edged sword, unintentionally fostering systematic gender discrimination in hiring and retention procedures. The paper also analysis the global trends in Maternity protection.
Methodology: This paper uses a systematic review and meta-analysis of peer reviewed research papers published between 1993 and 2025 that used survey method. Extensive searches of databases like PubMed, Scopus and JSTOR were used to find relevant studies. The inclusion criteria was empirical data from across the globe.
Findings: This paper highlights important policy gaps that impede full workplace inclusion, going beyond the difficulties associated with maternity. It also examines the growing need for menstruation leave as an essential development in labour law to institutionalize reproductive health support beyond pregnancy. The paper highlights that maternity benefits provisions alone are insufficient to achieve true gender parity, rather a comprehensive socio legal reformative system that includes flexible work-from-home options, menstruation leaves, government funded benefits for both employer and employee can be a solution.
Keywords: Maternity Benefit Act, Menstrual Leave, Work-life Balance, Gender Parity, Labor Policy, Reproductive Health.
