Motherhood shouldn't cost careers: NCW chief backs shared childcare leave

Motherhood should not cost a woman her career, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said in an interview with the news agency PTI published on Monday, 9 November 2026, as she pressed for shared parenting and stronger support at work for parents after childbirth. Rahatkar said responsibility for a child lies equally with the mother and the father, stressed the importance of childcare leave, and said she was confident the government would accept the commission's recent recommendations on the subject. Those recommendations, sent to the government in October 2026, include turning the existing 730-day Child Care Leave into a gender-neutral entitlement that either parent can use, extending it to the private sector, and creating five lakh creche seats by 2030.

For many working women, the years after a child is born decide whether they stay in paid work at all. When care falls mostly on the mother and the workplace offers little flexibility, careers stall or end. The NCW's argument is that this is a design problem, not a personal one: leave rules, creches and paternity leave decide who can keep working.

The most practical change in the package is to Child Care Leave. Today it is built around women. Making the 730 days available to either parent, and letting couples who work in the same place share a common pool, would let families decide who takes time off, and would make it normal for fathers to do so. The commission also wants the idea to reach private and unorganised-sector workers, to whom the current Child Care Leave rules do not extend.

Childcare places are the other half of the plan. Leave covers the early months; after that, parents need somewhere safe to leave a young child during working hours. The five lakh creche-seat target is meant to address that gap. Rahatkar's comments this week show the commission is still pushing the government to act on the report, a month after it was submitted.

The NCW also carries a heavy workload on women's complaints. The commission receives around 1,50,000 complaints a year, with domestic violence the largest category, according to a separate report on Rahatkar's remarks published on 10 November 2026.

Peepals calculation: under the proposal, each parent would get 365 of the 730 days of Child Care Leave, an equal 50% share (365 ÷ 730 = 0.5). The 37 recommendations across nine areas work out to about four per area (37 ÷ 9 = 4.1). And 1,50,000 complaints a year is about 411 complaints a day (150,000 ÷ 365 = 411). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: The recommendations sit with the Department of Personnel and Training and two ministries. Rahatkar's public push keeps the issue in view, but nothing changes for employees until the government decides.

Long-term: If adopted, the changes could make it easier for women to return to work after childbirth, spread care more evenly between parents, and give private-sector workers protections that today apply mainly in government jobs.

Who is affected: Working mothers and fathers, especially in the private and unorganised sectors; employers who would have to offer new leave; families who need creche places; and state governments that would share the creche mission.

What to watch next: The government's response to the NCW's 37 recommendations.

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