In Spain, mothers get 16�weeks of maternity leave (the first six of which are considered obligatory rest after giving birth) with the old job guaranteed. The same applies to their social and labor rights.�

Later, in the months right after the obligatory time off, and until the baby reach the age of 9 months, mothers can take�one hour a day for nursing, and�it can be split up into two 30-minutes periods.��This benefit can indifferently be enjoyed by the father or the mother, in case that both parents work, and can be replaced of voluntary way by a reduction in half an hour of its working day.� Also,�working mothers are entitled to 100 euros a month in aid, so long as do some kind of work�-either self-employed or working for someone else- for which they are paying into the state health care system or a mutual-type health care provider. In order� to receive the aid, they must earn at least minimum wage and work more than 15 days a month.

Spanish labor stipulates that a 16-week leave will be enjoyed non-stop and can be extended at the rate of two weeks per child when a woman has twins or more. The leave will be distributed as per the wishes of the mother, so long as she takes six weeks right after delivering the baby. If the baby is born prematurely or needs to stay in the hospital for whatever reason, the leave starts when the baby is released from the hospital. In cases of adoption, or when minors of less than�six are taken in, the leave is six weeks non-stop.

Firings and layoffs will be considered null when they affect women (or men who have requested the leave) who are on leave because of maternity, a risky pregnancy, adoption or sponsoring a child.�

In the first quarter of this year Spain's health care system earmarked more than 220 million euros for maternity leave. Of that total, 218.7 million went to maternity leave per se and 1.87 million for women with risky pregnancies. The most recent data show that the health care system handled 61,951 maternity cases from January to March of this year, 8,893 more than in the same period of 2002, or a 16.76% rise. At the same time it handled 515 claims for risky pregnancies, up 118.22% from the previous year. �

In the first quarter of the year 862 men took paternity leave, compared to 734 in the same period of 2002, an increase of 17.44%. Meanwhile the number of women claiming maternity leave totaled 61,089 against 52,324 in the same span of last year, up 16.75%. Besides risk and maternity, in the first� three months of the year the health care system paid out more than�four million euros in cases of multiple births or families having their third or more child.�

Maternity leave is a political issue as well. This year the Socialist Party submitted a bill to expand maternity rights and make it easier for families to reconcile home and work. Its highlights included four weeks of non-stop paternity leave that the father could either take at the same time as the mother or after the mother goes back to work. Currently, the mother can also donate some of her leave time to her husband.