Women workers’ rights and managers’ point of view: a qualitative approach to maternity leave and breastfeeding

Résumé fourni par la source

This study aimed to learn managers' points of view on maternity leave and breastfeeding and find promotion, protection, and support strategies for breastfeeding in the work environment. This qualitative study, using Laurence Bardin's content analysis, was conducted with eight managers in 2023 in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. We used a semi-structured script with questions about how managers organized women workers' activities before they took their maternity leaves and after their return to work and questions about managers' points of view about breastfeeding and maternity leave. Answers were analyzed using NVivo. We established three big topics from the content of the interviews, namely: (1) managers' point of view regarding the duration of maternity leave and breastfeeding; (2) rights, incentives, and work conditions; and (3) the organization of the work environment during maternity leave. We verified compliance with the 4-month maternity leave provided for in the Brazilian Consolidation of Labor Laws, highlighting the disagreement of leave duration and the health recommendation for exclusive breastfeeding of up to six months. We also found that managers' lack of awareness about government programs encourage companies to support breastfeeding by tax reduction benefits and extended maternity leaves. Managers' point of view and personal experiences permeate knowledge about laws protecting female workers. The pro-breastfeeding strategy only involved complying with the maternity leave duration provided by law, which indicates the need for greater investments in awareness-raising actions for managers regarding the review of the concept of maternal protection.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.