Daddy do care
Issue 79 - 23 November 2021 (6-min read)
They say it takes a village to raise a child. Then why do our laws make it seem like a child can grow up pretty much on their own?
Despite women making up 50% or more of the working population in most countries, most of them are still struggling to find paid time off work when they have a baby. In fact, the United States just passed a new bill that allows paid family leave. Before that, it was one of seven countries without any kind of paid maternal leave.
When it comes to time off for the father, the picture is even grimmer. Up to 82 countries still do not have national paid paternal leave. Even if both parents are forced to go to work, childcare is hardly affordable in most rich countries, or non-existent in middle-income or poor countries.
This week in The Global Tiller, we focus on one aspect of this complex problem — paternal leave. We take a look at parental leave standards across the globe and see which countries fare best. We also examine the known benefits of taking parental leave and why some people may be reluctant to avail this offer. What role does parental leave play in ensuring a better future for all?
There are some surprises when you look at how countries across the world are handling paternity leave — for one, the Scandinavian countries do not score best. Japan tops the list with 52 weeks in total of paid leave, with the pay during this time equaling 30 weeks of salary (or full rate equivalent, which is the official calculation metric). Korea follows as a close second with 53 weeks in total paid leave but equalling 15 weeks’ pay.
For those faring worst, you may find some surprising names on the list of countries offering no paternity leave circa 2019: Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland. Canada hopped off this list, as recently as March 2019, by offering five weeks of paternity leave specifically for fathers.
There is no denying that our laws need to catch up. There are demonstrated benefits of paternal leave across the board. It strengthens partnerships, reduced postpartum depression, establishes parental roles for both parents, secures lifelong bonds for the father, helps reduce the gender wage gap, removes the stigma for women when they are obligated to take maternity leave, increases productivity in the organisation, and it allows adoptive, homosexual and other non-conventional families to be able to take time off to spend with their baby.
Despite these obvious benefits, many men are still reluctant to take paternal leave. Even in Japan, just over 5% of fathers who qualified for it took paid leave in 2017, according to Unicef. The reasons why are surprisingly not too far from the factors that make pregnancy a sore subject for women in the workplace too. Most employees feel discriminated against, especially if the managers and organisational leaders look down upon those availing parental leave, or where taking little to no leave is seen as a 'badge of honour'. They fear missing out on promotions and raises. And they have no role models to look up to when it comes to participative childcare.
As we move into a post-Covid world with presumably a desire to make our workplaces more adaptable and convenient for those who work in them, parental leave stands out as the obvious first step. The question is no longer if fathers should be allowed time off to be with their new babies but more, how can both the mother and the father be supported. How can we remove the stigmas around us when it comes to the expectations and duties assigned to fathers?
Until next week, take care and stay safe.
Hira - Editor - The Global Tiller
…and now what?
Often, we hear managers and business leaders talking about their companies as a 'family'. It’s a familiar way to show how close we become when we work together within the organisation, how good it can feel to be part of a family and how the leadership is creating (or pretending to create) a sense of real human connection.
Yet, when it comes to taking care of the real families connected to the organisation, it seems that few organisations are willing to help their 'family'. Why is that so? One could argue that it’s costly, it’s disruptive for the day-to-day workings and that it’s quite hard to organise when there’s no legal framework for it. But all these are mere technicalities than anything else.
The real issue still seems to be the fact that the idea of a father being present (or 'useful') for the first days and months of the baby hasn’t percolated in our societies' mentality. For now, this is still seen as a woman’s job.
Gender roles in most of our cultures have been so entrenched that it’s hard to change. Japan is a good case study for that because when no one takes the first step towards this change, even progressive laws cannot bring change.
Many organisations have been advocating for gender equality for years but they’ve focused their attention mostly on cosmetic changes. We never envisioned the problem in its wholeness. If we really want to have equal opportunities for all genders, we have to focus on both sides of the equation. Otherwise, we will remain stuck in the spiral.
The Covid-19 pandemic revealed just how cosmetic these changes were when, in just a few months, we reversed all the progress we had made to bring more and more women into the workforce. As a consequence of school lockdowns, a huge proportion of women had to leave the workforce to take care of their children.
On the other hand, work life for men is designed in such a way that, forget being there for the first few weeks of your child’s life, overwork, late hours and weekend meetings make them miss out on many important family moments through the years. Not to mention the adverse effects of burnout, stress and depression on the overall wellbeing of the family at home.
And let’s not forget the single fathers. How do we expect those to care about their kids in workplaces where men are not allowed to be a full-time parent?
It made headlines when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern brought her newly born baby to the UN General Assembly. Have we ever seen a male leader bringing his kid with him? Why not? Most likely, because his wife is taking care of it. And so far, no one seems to question why?
Gender equality calls for men to take ownership of their role beyond the traditional image of 'the man', otherwise we won’t solve the problem at a deeper level.
A few days ago, I saw a picture of Elon Musk holding his young boy during an online conference. I don’t know much about the context but the image itself indicates something important: a major business leader including his kid in his busy work day. Say what you may about Elon Musk, but this image normalises parenting roles for fathers.
It’s time for our organisations to jump on the bandwagon, and help men become fully men: hard workers, fathers, husbands, partners, educators, role models, caretakers and supporters because, if women show how they can do it all, men should be encouraged to take a shot as well. Don’t you think?
Philippe - Founder - Pacific Ventury