By Bridget MENSAH
As Ghana commemorates International Workers’ Day amid economic challenges and labour reforms, the disconnect between our maternal protection legislation and workplace realities deserves critical examination.
The experience of working mothers in our nation continues to expose troubling gaps between policy promises and practical implementation.
Ghana’s labour framework proudly outlines a seemingly comprehensive maternal protection system structured around five key pillars.
The Labour Act 651 guarantees 12 weeks of maternity leave, aligning with the ratified ILO Convention 103.
It promises full remuneration and medical benefits during confinement, employment security for expectant and nursing mothers, health protections for mother and child, and breastfeeding arrangements upon return to work.
Labour unions continue to advocate for the ratification of ILO Convention 183, which would extend leave by two additional weeks—a proposal purportedly accepted in the ongoing Labour Act review. Yet this incremental improvement sidesteps more fundamental questions about the adequacy of our maternal support systems.
The lived experiences of Ghanaian working mothers reveal a troubling pattern of professional penalties following maternity leave.
Consider the case of a professional who took six months’ leave—time crucial for recovery and bonding with her newborn.
Upon return, she discovered her organisation had promoted a less qualified male colleague in her absence, effectively punishing her career trajectory for exercising her maternal rights.
This exposes how deeply ingrained these discriminatory practices remain across organisational cultures, regardless of stated principles.
Mothers face systematic disadvantages in workplaces nationwide. The employment protection provisions ostensibly guarantee job security, but they fail to address the subtler forms of discrimination: passed-over promotions, exclusion from key projects and the pervasive “motherhood penalty” that stalls women’s career advancement.
The national daily minimum wage stands at GH¢19.97 as of March 2025—a modest 10 percent increase from the previous GH¢18.15. With average monthly salaries not enough to support families financial pressures compound the challenges facing working parents.
More troubling are persistent reports that some HR professionals at multinational companies actively undermine potential salary improvements.
Where foreign employers show willingness to offer competitive compensation, these gatekeepers allegedly intervene to suppress wages—maintaining artificial salary ceilings even when company budgets would support better remuneration.
This practice, if widespread, represents a betrayal of Ghanaian workers by the very professionals tasked with advocating for their well-being.
The statutory one-hour breastfeeding break after returning to work reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of mothers’ needs. Without workplace childcare facilities—despite guarantees in Article 27(1-3) of the 1992 Constitution—this accommodation becomes largely symbolic.
The true burden falls on mothers to compress breastfeeding into early mornings and evenings, often at the expense of sleep and personal well-being.
Progressive employers worldwide have demonstrated that on-site childcare facilities and flexible work arrangements yield tangible benefits: improved employee retention, reduced absenteeism and strengthened organisational loyalty.
Ghana’s reluctance to enforce constitutional childcare provisions represents both a policy failure and a missed economic opportunity.
The debate over extending maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks obscures more fundamental questions. Even the most generous leave policies ultimately fail working mothers when organisational cultures penalise maternal absence and devalue caregiving responsibilities.
Until we address the systemic devaluation of maternal contributions to both the workplace and society, tweaking leave durations merely reshapes rather than resolves the fundamental challenge.
True maternal protection requires more than policy frameworks; there should be accountability mechanisms that prevent discrimination, workplace cultures that recognise parenthood as valuable life experience rather than professional liability, and economic structures that fairly compensate all workers regardless of family status.
Human Resource professionals face a critical moment of reckoning. As stewards of organisational culture and policy implementation, they bear particular responsibility for either perpetuating or challenging discriminatory practices.
Reports of HR personnel actively undermining salary potential—if accurate—represent a profound ethical failure within the profession.
This May Day, HR practitioners across Ghana must reflect honestly on whether their practices truly serve workers’ interests or merely protect institutional status quos.
The profession’s credibility depends on transitioning from policy enforcers to genuine employee advocates who recognise that supporting working parents strengthens entire organisations.
As we mark International Workers’ Day 2025, Ghana stands at a critical juncture. Labour reforms that merely tweak existing provisions without addressing underlying cultural attitudes will inevitably disappoint. True progress requires:
- Rigorous enforcement of existing maternal protection provisions with meaningful penalties for non-compliance.
- Implementation of the constitutional mandate for workplace childcare facilities.
- Transparent promotion and compensation systems that eliminate the motherhood penalty.
- Cultural transformation that recognises caregiving as valuable rather than inconvenient.
- Accountability for HR professionals who undermine rather than advocate for workers’ interests.
The question facing Ghana this May Day is not simply whether we will extend maternity leave by two weeks, but whether we are prepared to build workplaces that genuinely value the contributions of all workers—including those who balance professional responsibilities with the essential work of raising the next generation.
Our maternal protection framework will remain a hollow promise until we confront the gap between legislative aspiration and workplace reality. This requires not just government action, but a fundamental reassessment of how we value care work in our economic and social structures.
On this International Workers’ Day, let us commit to building workplaces where maternal protection represents not just legal compliance but a genuine commitment to equity, well-being and human dignity for all Ghanaian workers.
>>>the writer is a feminist, PR and marketing professional, and senior editor of FemInStyle Africa Magazine. She can be reached via [email protected]
