Expansão da licença maternidade e a proteção do mercado de trabalho da mulher

Abstract

Maternity leave is a constitutional guarantee of paramount importance for the working woman and was gradually conquered the Brazilian legal system. The subject of the duration of maternity leave has always been the target of legislative discussions, arguing that this may act as a barrier to women entering the labor market. On September 9, 2008, the Law nº. 11.770/08, which established the Citizen Company Program enabling the extension of sixty days of maternity leave came into force. Thus, in this context, this study aimed to analyze the expansion of maternity leave provided by Company Citizenship Program and the condition of women in the labor market. This is an exploratory research, bibliographical, comprising three interrelated chapters: pregnant women and maternity protection; women in the labor market, and Law nº. 11.770/08: extension of the maternity leave period. We conclude that the different legal provisions aimed at expanding the maternity leave, among them the Law nº. 11.770/08 aren’t barriers to inclusion and professional development of women, being an important benefit in the protection of women in the market work in which the fiscal costs of expanding the license are outweighed by the benefits. Also, it is concluded that the Law nº. 11.770/08 presented as positives availability of breastfeeding and mother to keep the child in the first months of life, providing a better interaction between mother and child as well as the proper breastfeeding for the education of children, increasing the quality of the working and the newborn. Despite its advantages, the law of the Citizen Company Program has three limitations, such as: I. protect only the employee who performs services for the corporation, excluding 7,857,668 women hired by an individual (such as domestic workers), as well as individual, insured and special contributors handled optional; II. Joining the program is only for taxable entities based on taxable income away from employees of companies that tax based on presumed income and single, leaving aside more than 9 million company; III. need for the employer to have to agree to join the program, this fact limits the application of the law, because it will have to be easily adaptable to the profile of leadership and organizational culture, so that the company is interested in providing their employees to the extent of maternity leave. Thus, it is the reflection of the need for legislation to expand the maternity leave that benefits all working women, including women entrepreneurs, autonomous, domestic and agricultural workers, not just those working in the group of the largest firms in the country.