A/HRC/44/51/Add.1 correspond to typical working hours, which necessitates parents working less or relying on family members, usually women, to provide childcare. The Government partially addressed those concerns though a funding programme on the harmonization of family life and work life. Additional policy measures and improved implementation of current measures are necessary to encourage higher rates of use of childcare services and preschool education. That will support parents, in particular women, in balancing paid work and care work.27 31. Prioritizing investment in social protection and public services is essential for ensuring that women benefit equally from the economic recovery measures. That includes investment in accessible, affordable and high-quality childcare and care services for older persons and persons with disabilities, to reduce the unpaid care workload for women and enable their economic participation. Furthermore, resources are urgently needed to close the gaps in the social protection system, in particular those benefits that lift women and their families out of poverty. A key priority should be the introduction of measures to support more equal sharing of care work responsibilities between women and men, which would be helped by increasing the entitlement of paid leave specifically for fathers, which is low by European Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standards. That will require shifting the stereotype that care work is the domain of women. 32. In 2016, 62 per cent of women and 51 per cent of men between the ages of 20 and 49 (i.e., potential parents) were ineligible for parental leave in Greece, whereas those figures were 34 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, in the European Union. Unemployment or inactivity in the workforce was the main reason for ineligibility for 71 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men. Self-employment was a reason for the ineligibility for 22 per cent of women and 48 per cent of men. The remaining 6 per cent of women and 8 per cent of men were ineligible, owing to an inadequate length of employment. Same-sex parents are ineligible for parental leave in Greece. Among the entire employed population, 32 per cent of women and 37 per cent of men were ineligible for parental leave.28 2. Maternity protection 33. Access for women to the labour market is also hampered by the lack of protection provided to employees who have been absent from work due to maternity or parental leave. As documented by the Office of the Ombudsman of Greece, access to maternity leave is not uniform, but rather differs based on employment status and whether the employee is in the public or private employment sector. Women who return to work following maternity leave are legally entitled to return to the same job or an equivalent one, with no less favourable working terms and conditions, while benefitting from any improvement of their working conditions that they would have been entitled to during their absence. However, in practice, a serious deficiency is observed in the application of the law on those matters, in particular in relation to women in high-ranking positions. 29 Some working women face strict restrictions, including the refusal to count the maternity leave period in the total length of service, which has a negative impact on their career development and pensions. In some cases, women are totally excluded from exercising their rights relating to maternity, facing wrongful dismissals from employment and changes in work terms, such as reduced hours, imposed by employers due to pregnancy and care work responsibilities. There are also gaps with regard to maternity protections for self-employed persons. As the experts heard from one woman: “Three times in job interviews I was told ‘you’re a woman; you’re going to get pregnant. That will bring us a difficult situation, so we cannot hire you’.” 34. Furthermore, the continuous reduction of the already insufficient day-care structures for children limits the ability of women to take up employment or to stay in jobs. In parallel, 27 28 29 Childcare policy of Greece. Available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/nationalpolicies/eurydice/content/early-childhood-education-and-care-33_en. European Institute for Gender Equality, Gender Equality Index, Work-life balance (2019), Parental leave policies in Greece. Available at https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/thematicfocus/work-life-balance/parental-leave-policies/EL. Ombudsman of Greece, “Equal treatment special report, 2017”, p. 30. Available at www.synigoros.gr/?i=equality.en.recentinterentions.541056. 9