Recent Changes to the Maternity and Parental Leave Benefits Regime as a Case Study: The Impact of Globalization on the Delivery of Social Programs in Canada

In December 2000, the Canadian government amended the Employment Insurance Act to extend parental leave benefits to 35 weeks. Combined with the maternity leave provision of 15 weeks (which remained unchanged), this amendment allowed birth mothers to take up to 50 weeks combined leave. This article assesses the amendment within the context of globalization and neo-liberal policy reform that emphasize a reduction in state delivery of social programs. Despite the extended time period, the author argues that these changes are not equality enhancing because access to these benefits are beyond the reach of most women, particularly poor women and women of colour, and that the program reinforces the sexual division of labour. The author situates these amendments within the broader pattern of the effects of globalization on women, which include an increasing responsibility for the costs of social reproduction. [Descriptors: Economic Globalization, Canada]