Why Christy Ng Thinks Increasing Maternity Leave To 90 Days May Not Be A Good Idea
The entrepreneur was sharing her opinion on the government's plans to make improvements to the Employment Act as part of its Budget 2020 policy.
By Sadho Ram — 12 Oct 2019, 01:22 PM
Entrepreneur Christy Ng is currently getting a lot of flak for expressing her opinion about the government's efforts to increase the maternity leave to 90 days from 60 days effective 2021
The Malaysian designer was a guest during Astro AWANI's the Budget 2020 special program on Friday, where she was asked to share her views.
During the show, Christy said that she thinks this budget is "very very inclusive" and that she is actually "very very happy" with the things that have been ironed out.
The famous shoe designer, however, expressed her concerns regarding the possible repercussions women might face in the workforce with the 90 days maternity leave.
The change in maternity leave will come into effect from 2021 as part of the Pakatan Harapan government's plans to make improvements to the Employment Act as part of its Budget 2020 policy announced by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng on 11 October.
According to Christy, the 90 days leave is a "double-edged sword"
While talking to the program host and other guests during the show, the Malaysian entrepreneur said that while she is really excited about this year's budget due as it aims to get women who are 30 to 50 years old back onto the workforce, what she is probably not that excited about in the budget is the increase of the maternity leave.
"...I feel more excited to hire more women back to the workforce. I think it's very good for the economy because women can now come back to the workforce, make money, and contribute to tax and help this nation become great again.
"The not so exciting the thing that I'm not that excited about is probably the increase of the maternity leave. It's a double-edged sword. It's good. It has some goodness in it and there's also some negative impact," Christy shared.
She described the three-month leave period as "a little bit too long"
According to Christy, being away from the workforce for three-months is a bit too long.
They may go out of touch very quickly.
"And I'm also very concerned that this move would actually deter more employers to put women at high-ranking positions," she expressed her reservations.
Christy then agreed with another host in the show who remarked that "extending the maternity leave is not a good thing".
"It may not be a good thing," Christy emphasised.
