Beijing officials announced on Thursday that couples are now granted an extended maternity and paternity leave.

Female employees who will give birth to their first or second child in the capital will now enjoy an extended maternity leave of up to three months, based on the revised regulation on family planning officially adopted on Thursday.

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The latest amendment was according to the revised national Law on Population and Family Planning adopted on January 1, which now permits couples to have two children, eliminating the decades-long one-child policy of China.

Aside from the extended maternity leave, fathers are also given a 15-day paternity leave soon after their babies are born.

Under the new policy, female employees can now enjoy as much as 218 days of maternity leave, including the 98 days mandated under the national law, the 30 days under Beijing's regulation, and an extra one- to three-month leave, which is subject to their employers' approval.

The previous regulation encouraged women to marry and get pregnant late and to stick to the country's one-child policy. Furthermore, only women who give birth to their first child at 24 years or older are allowed to avail the 30-day additional leave and only those who decided to have just one child could be granted an added maternity leave of three months following employer's approval.

Aside from the extended leave, other changes include allowing couples to have a third child in cases like a child suffering from disabilities. 

According to Liu Zhengang, Beijing Legal Affairs Office' chief, the extended leave allows female employees to "maintain the physical and psychological health of mothers and their babies, considering the burden on the social security fund and employers."

Liu said that over 4,000 suggestions were initially gathered for the draft law before it was submitted to the Beijing People's Congress. Other cities have also considered and revised their family planning policies. Shanghai, for instance, has earlier extended its maternity leave for at least 128 days.

Tagsmaternity leave, paternity leave, china, Beijing, family planning policy, two-child policy