VIDEO ALERT: Paid maternity leave will increase the value our nation places on paid and unpaid work of mothers according to University of Melbourne researcher Amanda Cooklin.

Ms Cooklin says the inclusion in tomorrow’s budget of an 18-week paid parental leave scheme which will begin nationally from January 2011, is an “historic and important decision”.

“Australia is one of only two industrialised nations to not have a paid universal maternity leave scheme, so we are far behind comparable countries and this policy will bring us in line,” she says.

“Eighteen weeks is a good starting point for maternity leave, and above the minimum recommended by the International Labour Organisation”.

“This time allows women a good four months to negotiate the early tasks and demands of motherhood, to establish breast feeding and recuperate from giving birth. This scheme will also protect a mothers time at home while giving her an independent income and the security of knowing she has a job to return to in 18 weeks.”

Ms Cooklin says research shows that only one in three women currently have access to paid maternity leave in Australia; and that women who aren’t able to access such a scheme have poorer mental health.

Ms Cooklin’s own research paper Employee Entitlements during Pregnancy and Maternal Psychological Well-being, found that almost one-fifth of employed women reported that they had been discriminated against at work as a result of their pregnancy. Ms Cooklin says she hopes the universal policy will go a long way toward alleviating this problem