Oman has launched the implementation of new social insurance maternity benefits that are set to significantly improve labour market opportunities for women in the Sultanate.
The new scheme is part of ambitious and wide-ranging social protection reforms in Oman, developed with the support of the ILO and adopted in July 2023. It improves and expands maternity benefits for mothers employed in full-time jobs and includes a provision for paternity leave.
The system is in line with key requirements of ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), including through covering migrant workers alongside nationals. Earlier this month, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also announced legislation that will establish a similar maternity insurance system.
"The introduction of the parental leave branch under the Social Protection Law is not only aimed at increasing women's participation in the workforce but also at improving the well-being of families and ensuring the future prosperity of our nation," said Fasil Al-Farsi, CEO of the Social Protection Fund. "Ensuring close alignment with national objectives, international social security standards of the International Labour Organization, and best global practices are guiding principles of all social protection reforms in Oman," he added.
The new scheme provides Omani and non-Omani mothers who are in full-time employment with longer, fully paid maternity leave, equal to 14 weeks as consistent with the requirements of ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183). It also includes the option of unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 98 additional days, which can be shared between father and mother. In order to avoid negatively impacting women's future pension entitlements, the Social Protection Fund will cover the cost of pension contributions during maternity leave.
While employed women did have access to seven weeks of paid maternity leave in the previous system, the cost was directly borne by employers, which acted as a disincentive to hiring women. Under the new system, the maternity and paternity leave will be collectively financed by all employers through a monthly contribution to the Social Protection Fund equal to 1 per cent of all wages.
© SPF-17/07/2024/ Muscat, Oman "Expanding maternity protection can be a source of profound transformation for labour markets in the Middle East," said Peter Rademaker, ILO Deputy Regional Director for the Arab States, who attended the launch of the new scheme in Muscat. "Increasing female economic participation is a defining challenge for the region in its quest to achieve more equal societies and more productive economies. Omani constituents recognize the integral role of maternity insurance in achieving this objective. We congratulate Oman for setting a new regional benchmark in this area and welcome further efforts that are underway to expand gender transformative labour protection and care policies," he added.
In a first for the GCC region, Oman has also introduced seven days of paid paternity leave for all employed Omani and non-Omani fathers at full salary. This can be extended to up to 98 additional days of unpaid, job-protected leave. No leave was provided under the previous system for fathers, reinforcing the women's traditional role as sole carer. Paid paternity leave policies are recognised as a tool to enable fathers to bond with their newborns while also sharing unpaid care work.
"The new scheme ensures that both mothers and fathers receive paid leave and fully contributed care leave, granting them essential time for critical caregiving responsibilities," said Shabib Al-Busaidi, Deputy CEO for Social Protection at the Social Protection Fund. "It underscores our steadfast commitment to supporting all workers, regardless of nationality, be they Omani or non-Omani, by providing the necessary time to care for their loved ones," he continued.
The introduction of the new parental social insurance system is part of wide-ranging recent reforms whereby Oman has introduced a new unified social insurance system to cover sickness, maternity and paternity, and employment injury for both nationals and migrant workers employed within the private and public sectors.
"The inclusion of migrant women in the newly adopted maternity insurance schemes in Oman and Saudi Arabia reinforces the principle of non-discrimination and equality of treatment for all workers," commented Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Protection Specialist for the ILO in the Arab States. "Migrant women face significant labour protection gaps in the GCC, and pregnancy is often the cause of dismissal and repatriation. The implementation of these new systems will have to go hand in hand with measures to ensure migrant women retain their labour rights during maternity leave. It is also important that maternity insurance extends in the future to women in all forms of employment and especially women domestic workers, who are most vulnerable to discrimination and abuse across the region," he added.
The maternity and paternity benefits in Oman will be administered by the newly established Social Protection Fund which implements contributory and non-contributory social protection benefits across the Sultanate. They were enacted through a comprehensive Social Protection Law, promulgated by Royal Decree No. 52/2023 in July 2023.
The newly approved legislation, developed with the support of the ILO, radically reshapes the social protection system in the Sultanate and marks the culmination of an ambitious reform process led by Estidamah, the high-level government programme for fiscal balance (previously Tawazun).
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