NCW Proposes 37 Reforms to Support Women's Careers after Motherhood

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Monday, 9 November 2026

Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) Vijaya Rahatkar recently emphasized that motherhood should not compel women to give up on their professional aspirations and careers. Stressing upon the need for shared parenting and support of institutions, she demanded to foster a more conducive environment at workplace for working mothers to pursue their professional lives after becoming mothers.

While speaking to PTI in an interview, Vijaya emphasized that bringing up a child is the joint responsibility of both the parents rather than being treated as the responsibility of the mother alone. She stated that fathers also have to actively contribute to their parental roles to make sure that mothers do not get pressurized.

Key Highlights:

• NCW proposes 37 reforms to strengthen workplace support for working mothers
• Recommendations include gender-neutral childcare leave and paid paternity leave
• NCW aims to create five lakh crèche seats by 2030

Vijaya spoke about the significance of childcare leave in order to facilitate working mothers to cope with their professional and familial duties. According to her, the government has been offering special provisions to provide similar assistance in the private sector. As per her, such workplace and childcare provisions can assist women in getting back to work without any interruption in their careers.

She further stressed on the importance of giving women the liberty of pursuing their career objectives, ambitions, and milestones without compromising on their personal aspirations or motherhood.

She added that such reforms were the result of a series of consultations and discussions with various interested parties. This assisted the committee in collecting varied perspectives and formulating steps necessary to improve maternity protection and child care facilities among other aspects of support for working women. Vijaya was sure that her suggestions would be welcomed by the Union government since they have been prepared following consultations with different stakeholders.

Vijaya also stated that women's empowerment plays an essential role in the general concept of the country's development as formulated by the government. The purpose of this policy is not only to advance women's rights, but also to acknowledge the leadership and increase the participation of women in decision-making, which will enable women to participaste in the development of the country.

For working mothers, organizations need to make sure that the working environment should offer adequate childcare facilities and recognition for the needs of working parents.

The commission has forwarded its recommendations to the Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Women & Child Development, and Ministry of Labour & Employment. These recommendations pertain to nine major policy areas that include maternity benefits, childcare leaves, paternity leaves, childcare facilities, nursing and lactation facilities, inclusion of private sector, workplace discrimination, and other issues.

By introducing such reforms, the overarching aim is to create work environments in which motherhood and career growth can go hand-in-hand. Echoing the same sentiment, the National Commission for Women has recently put forth 37 suggestions to the Union government regarding the matter. These suggestions include provisions for gender-neutral childcare leave for private sector workers, mandatory paid paternity leave for all sectors, and five lakh crèche seats by 2030.