New Zealand approves paid leave after miscarriage, and encourages the world to follow

 

New Zealand will become one of the world's only countries to offer paid bereavement leave for workers who suffer a miscarriage, after lawmakers unanimously approved the motion on Wednesday.
Employees in the country will be entitled to three days' leave after a miscarriage under the law, which is set to gain royal assent after passing its final stage in parliament.
Ginny Andersen, the Labour MP who introduced the bill, said it would make New Zealand only the second country to provide such a benefit to her knowledge. India allows women six weeks of leave after a miscarriage."I can only hope that while we may be one of the first, we will not be one of the last, and that other countries will also begin to legislate for a compassionate and fair leave system that recognizes the pain and the grief that comes from miscarriage and stillbirth," she said in parliament during the final reading of the bill.
New Zealand -- the first self-governing country to allow women to vote, in 1893 -- has passed a number of laws in recent years that have been hailed by women's rights groups, including moves to reduce the impact of period poverty.
The latest move comes more than a year after the country decriminalized abortion, reversing a stance that had made it an outlier among most of the developed world.