Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 2019/1158)

• Author: Baci, Entela
• Pages: 52-73

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5 Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers

(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Direct ives 2006/54, 2010/18 and

2019/1158)194

5.1 General (legal) context

Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to work-lif e balance

Several reports and surveys have been published in Albania over the last five years that

provide insights into difficulties that workers face in practice in relation to work-life

balance. These include:

i. The National report of Albania under the third cycle of Universal Periodic Review

(2019);195

ii. National strategy and action plan on gender equalit y (2016-2020);196

iii. National Employment and Skills Strategy (NESS) (2019-2022);197

iv. National Employment and Skills Strategy (NESS) (2014-2020);198

v. Gender Brief in Albania 2016, an assessment by UN Women and UNDP in Albania.199

i. The Albanian national report under the third cycle of UPR provides relevant

information on the implementation of recommendations from the second cycle of

UPR review as follows:200

‘34. Amendments of the Labour Code in December 2015 introduced new provisions,

with direct impact in women, including: an improved definition of sexual harassment

in the work place; the reverse of the burden of proof for sexual harassment;

additional guarantees for women’s return to work aft er their maternity leave; non-

discriminatory remuneration for all, and not only for men and women, etc. ’

ii. The National strategy and action plan on gender equality (2016-2020), under

Strategic Goal No. 1 ent itled ‘Economic empowerment of women and men’ sets an

objective to reduce t he unpaid work of women within the family by increasing the

quality of and access to social services. The projected outcomes ar e:201

• reduction by 10 % of the u npaid work of women due to increased access to

social s ervices such as kindergartens, services for th e elderly (especially for

older women), services for women and children with disabilities, Roma and

Egyptian women and women from marginalised groups;

194 See Masselot, A. (2018) Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable

treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-

dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and McColgan, A. (2015) Measures to address the

challenges of work-life balance in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European

network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3631-reconciliation.

195 Albanian Government (2019), National Report of the Republic of Albania under the third cycle of Universal

Periodic Review, A/HRC/WG.6/33/ALB/1, available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/ALIndex.aspx.

196 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2016), National strategy and action plan (2016-2020) on gender

equality, available at: https://awenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/SKGJB-EN-web.pdf.

197 Ministry of Finance and Economy (2019), National employment and skills strategy 2019-2022.

198 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2014), National employment and skills strategy 2014-2020, available

at: http://financa.gov.al/wp-

content/uploads/2018/06/Strategjia_Kombetare_per_Punesim_dhe_Aftesi_Plani_Veprimit.pdf.

199 UN Women Albania and UNDP (2016), Gender Brief Albania, available at: https://www2.unwomen.org/-

/media/field%20office%20albania/attachments/publications/2016/10/unw%20gender%20brief%20albania

%202016_en_web.pdf?la=en&vs=2652.

200 Albanian Government (2019), National Report of the Republic of Albania under the third cycle of Universal

Periodic Review, Paragraphs 34 and 94.

201 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2016), National strategy and action plan (2016-2020) on gender

equality.

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• assessment of services offered by local government authorities on the basis of

their new remit and functions in the framework of the administrative-territorial

reform.

iii. NESS 2019-2022, during the analysis of the strategic objectives, stipulates that the

creation and implementation of an activ e employment policy is the main element of

the approach and solution to employment problems:202

‘Policies aimed at improving employment prospects should have a broader scope of

action. At the same time, programmes should target those who a re mo st

disadvantaged in the labour market, especially individuals wi th low levels of

education and qualifications, women, young people, other vulnerable groups and

those who live in areas not covered by employment services. Therefore, a new

framework for employment p romotion will be designed to ensure the use of more

efficient policies and more resources for the labour market based on Law No.

15/2019 on employment promotion.’

iv. NESS 2014-2020 stressed the following difficulties related to work- life balance:203

‘The lack of support and limited offer of state care turns women in to caregivers for

children, sick persons and elderly. Due to the fact that women are responsible for

the birth and care of children and because of weak politics for provi ding child care,

the female labour force is characterised by the discontinuity of employment,

especially during the childbearing period, leading to an average time of five years of

less working exp erience during the active life cycle, compared to men. This affects

further negatively the female position in the labour market. Anoth er factor, that

affects negat ively in low remuneration of wo men, is also their low involvement in

private businesses as self-employed.’

v. Gender Brief in Albania 2016 shows the n eed for sex-disaggregated data on the

beneficiaries of maternity and paternity leave in order to monitor the proportion of

mothers and fathers who actually go on maternity or paternity leave – such

monitoring i s the responsibility of the Social Insuran ce Institute.204 Other fin dings

relate to women’s access to social benefits in rural areas:205

• Women’s work in agriculture is predominantly informal, and as a result, women

tend to be excluded from the social prot ection and insurance system. For

instance, in 20 15, only 32 % of women giving birth to a child received a

maternity allowance, indicating very low rates of social insurance coverage in

general. The share of r ural women receiving a maternity leave allowance is

significantly less than that of women in urban areas.

• Women’s inf ormal status in agriculture reduces their access to entitlements,

productive resources, and services, while the lack of economic and educational

opportunities further limits social and economic development. Such imbalances

are also reflect ed in the unequal distribution of power at the household level.

Women’s rights to own and inherit land as well as determine its use in rural

areas is limited. Furthermore, domestic violence, a clear indicator of the status

of w omen in any given society, is widespread and socially t olerated in rural

areas.

Other issues

There is nothing further to report.

202 Ministry of Finance and Economy (2019), National employment and skills strategy 2019-2022, p. 11.976.

203 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2014), National employment and skills strategy 2014-2020, p. 22.

204 UN Women Albania and UNDP (2016), Gender Brief Albania, p. 52.

205 UN Women Albania and UNDP (2016), Gender Brief Albania, p. 56.