The Minister for the Self-Employed and SMEs, Eléonore SIMONET, has decided to abolish the current ban on combining maternity leave with holding a local political mandate and other forms of volunteering.
Indeed, women currently holding a political mandate or volunteering are only entitled to maternity benefits if they interrupt these activities. This incompatibility is an obstacle to women's participation in political decision-making and in volunteering.
The text approved by the Council of Ministers provides that, from the 15th day after childbirth, the beneficiary will be able to carry out activities such as volunteering or various exhaustively listed political mandates (municipal councillor, provincial councillor, police zone council member, etc.).
A similar combination will also be made possible for birth leave, adoption leave and foster parent leave (which here applies to both mothers and fathers).
Eléonore SIMONET: “Parenthood should never be an obstacle, neither to a self-employed career nor to societal engagement”.