Protection of Maternity in Greece and the E.U.—A Comparison Analysis

Pregnancy and motherhood are two situations which impose on the special regulation of the working conditions in order to secure the protection of the physical and psychological health of woman. Furthermore, the disproportion between woman's and man's work and the mentality that labour and the raising of child is a burden that only woman has to bear, needs to be eliminated.This burden is softened by the protection provided to pregnant women by the state. This way, a great effort is made to promote the equality in working relations between men and women. This kind of protection is realized through the National Health and Social Care by giving economical provisions and through legislative regulations in order to harmonize work and parental role. In this study, regulations and services along with their health care personnel, referring to motherhood's protection in Greece, are presented and related data concerning other EU countries are given. Until now, the existing system of maternity of the “Social State” has not reached yet the desired goal.