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RNZI
Fri, 12 Mar 2010
PAGOPAGO, American Samoa ----- Female government workers in American Samoa are a step closer to receiving paid maternity leave after a bill received more support at a hearing.
The bill, sponsored by senator Bill Satele, proposes a one-month paid maternity leave for women working in government jobs.
At the moment, new mothers have to take annual, sick or unpaid leave when their baby is born.
The human resources director is backing the incentive, but has asked for further research.
The director for women’s health, Marilyn Pavitt Anesi, said the bill was long overdue.
“I’m really really happy that they’re doing something for the women here because a lot of the women need to go to work so this will be really good for their bonding, they can breast-feed for a month and also I really wish that we could have the private sector also included in the bill.”
Ms Anesi said many women don’t complain about the issue, but are happy about the incentive.
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