Colonialism and paid maternity leave policies in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

While the right to parenting leaves in the Global North has been extensively studied, very little is known about leave policy development outside the Global North. This chapter provides a first overview of the historical development of paid maternity leave in 38 Sub-Saharan African countries. Using a newly built historical database, first, the chapter shows that Sub-Saharan African countries have provided generous but narrowly entitled maternity leave since the early phase of paid maternity leave development. Then, the chapter argues that the colonial legacy is the crucial factor in explaining the early adoption and high generosity of paid maternity leave in this region. European colonizers, the French in particular, transposed their own paid maternity leave policies onto the colonies as they were in the 1950s. However, it is common in Sub-Saharan African countries, regardless of colonial legacy, that the majority of women workers are not entitled to paid maternity leave.