Strengthening Malaysia’s Elaun Pasca Cuti Bersalin (EPCB) by including fathers — Lee Min Hui, Farqani Mohd Noor and Juanita Vasquez Escallon

OCT 27 — When a child is born, a family’s life changes overnight. This is a crucial time for parents to bond with their child, settle into new roles, and share the responsibility of care. Mothers also need time to recover from childbirth, while fathers play an important role in supporting her recovery, and managing the household.

Consistent care during this crucial window of a child’s life is paramount. Yet for many working families, this is also when difficult decisions and trade-offs begin: who can afford to remain out of work to provide care, and for how long?

Family-friendly labour policies can help make it possible for both parents to take time to care without having to choose between caregiving and financial security. On International Day of Care and Support, fathers should be included as beneficiaries of the Elaun Pasca Cuti Bersalin or Extended Paid Childbirth Benefit (EPCB), allowing fathers greater opportunity to be present and share caregiving responsibilities from the start.

EPCB – Recognition of childbirth as shared social responsibility

The EPCB, announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Labour Day, is an important step in supporting families. Building on the existing employer-financed 98 days of paid maternity leave under the Employment Act 1955, the EPCB would allow insured working mothers under Perkeso to take up an additional month of maternity leave at 80 per cent of their salary, financed through the Employment Insurance System (EIS).

This is a significant step towards supporting formally-employed mothers in Malaysia as the country grapples with a persistent labour market challenge: women disproportionately exiting the workforce during childbirth and not returning. In fact, in 2025, of the 3 million Malaysians outside the labour force because of ‘household responsibilities’, 97 per cent of them were women. As such, supporting women at this stage is crucial, especially with Malaysia’s women’s labour force participation lagging behind regional peers at 56 per cent.

But the EPCB is more than just a maternity benefit. At its core, it is a recognition of the fact that childbirth and care in the early years are not private responsibilities borne by women alone. These are shared social responsibilities that require income protection and support.

For working mothers covered under Perkeso, our estimates suggest the average beneficiary could receive between RM2,200 and RM2,400 during the extended leave period. By international standards, this represents a relatively generous level of support which would ease some of the immediate costs associated with childbirth and early childcare, while supporting breastfeeding, parent-child bonding, recovery and consistent caregiving. When well-designed, such maternity benefits could strengthen job attachment and support Malaysia’s ambition to raise women’s participation to 60 per cent by 2030.

Consistent care during this crucial window of a child’s life is paramount. Yet for many working families, this is also when difficult decisions and trade-offs begin: who can afford to remain out of work to provide care, and for how long? — Picture from pexels.com

Including fathers

The International Day of Care and Support is also an opportunity to ask: do our policies redistribute care more equitably within families and help reduce the gender gap? At present, fathers insured under Perkeso remain ineligible. By targeting women only, mothers are implicitly treated as the sole or ‘default caregiver’, which can unintentionally reinforce the notion that care is “women’s work”.

This notion is one reason the “child penalty” persists: after childbirth, women often experience declines in wages, labour force participation and career progression relative to men, which is a near-universal labour market phenomenon. Longer maternity leave can support mothers and infants. However, if it is not offset with leave for fathers, it may deepen perceptions that women are more “costly” to hire or promote.

The inclusion of fathers in the EPCB would help shift this norm. Evidence indicates that paid paternity leave can strengthen father-child bonding, increase men’s participation in unpaid care work and reduce the effects of the child penalty for women. Regional peers such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam have already taken similar steps to expand fathers’ entitlement to care leave.

Recognising potential fiscal and legal constraints, Perkeso could consider a phased approach to include fathers under the EPCB. A practical and immediate starting point at no additional cost would be to introduce flexibility for families to share the extended benefit between mothers and fathers. This design tweak would recognise the diversity of caregiving arrangements and support equitable division of care responsibilities.

Over time, this could normalise fathers taking leave, reduce hiring bias against women and make childcare an entitlement for both parents, rather than an accommodation for mothers alone.

Extending paternity leave to 14 days

As a second step, Perkeso could also explore a seven-day paternity leave extension under EIS financing, allowing fathers an additional week of paid leave on top of the seven days provided under the Employment Act. This would effectively move Malaysia’s paternity leave to 14 days, aligning it with international benchmarks.

Based on our estimation using Perkeso data, the seven-day paternity leave extension would represent a modest fiscal commitment, ranging between RM70 million and RM90 million, or about 7 per cent of annual EIS contributions.

In fact, for a relatively low additional cost, father-inclusive leave would send a powerful signal: care is a shared responsibility, and labour protections are essential in enabling both parents to perform their duties.

Making care possible for every family

Over the longer term, the EPCB could be integrated into a broader family-friendly policy package, alongside adequate parental leave, breastfeeding facilities and breaks, flexible work arrangements, childcare support and adequate wages, on top of other basic labour protections.

Complementary services can help improve the efficacy of such measures. Using the existing employment services structure, Perkeso can link EPCB beneficiaries to antenatal and postnatal care, breastfeeding consultations, parenting support, immunisation reminders and family mental health services, especially through existing Ministry of Health systems.

So far, care economy discussions have largely focused on expanding care services and investing in the infrastructure needed to deliver them. But parents remain primary caregivers, and they too need time, resources and job security to provide care. Family-friendly labour policies may be less visible than care services, but they are an equally essential pillar of a viable care economy.

Malaysia’s introduction of the EPCB is a timely and commendable step forward. To maximise its impact, the reform should evolve to include fathers, strengthen family-friendly workplace protections, and connect families to complementary support. On International Day of Care and Support, this is the broader message Malaysia can champion: care must be shared at home, at work and across society.

*Lee Min Hui, Farqani Mohd Noor and Juanita Vasquez Escallon are social policy specialists and Chief of Social Policy, respectively, at Unicef Malaysia.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.