When Men Get Paternity Leave

It is vital to recognise the long-term value fathers uptake of parental leave brings to children’s wellbeing, reduced gender stereotyping, family economic stability and women’s employment prospects. Researchers Duvander and Jans (2009) found a decrease in gender stereotypes within the family and an increased involvement with children, which last as the child ages. The research revealed that the longer the length of leave taken by fathers, including where parents had separated, the greater amount of contact fathers had with their children as well as the greater amount of time they spent on household chores compared to fathers who took little to no leave (Duvander & Jans, 2009; Hass & Hwang, 2008; Ray, Gornick & Schmitt, 2010). Research has shown the important impact of fostering a relationship between both a child’s mother and father has shown a positive long term for a childs cognitive development and social and emotional wellbeing (Cabrera, Tamis-Lemonda, Bradley, Hofferth & Lamb, 2005; Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid & Bremberg.

Fathers should be given maternity leave to form important bonds with their new child which will positively affect the child's life. There are many instances where fathers have needed to prioritize work to provide financially for their family but where not given an antiquate amount of time to nurture their child emotionally. By giving fathers maternity leave, they have the opportunity to connect with their infant during their child's earliest developmental stage. Many babies are skeptical of their fathers and may cry when approached by them due to not forming a close bond with them in the womb, as they did with their mothers. If fathers were to be given

Paternity leave is the time a father takes off work at the birth or adoption of a child. This kind of leave is rarely paid and is important. After the mother gives birth she may not be feeling well, or exhausting and does not want to go through raising the child all on her own after recently giving birth. She will need the father to take paternity leave and be with her, support her and assist her when taking care of the new born. Another circumstance where paternity leave is a must when the mother-to-be is going through tough

Research from Israel shows that when more time is given off to new fathers, the more their brain changes to better suit them to be a parent (Thompson). Being around the new child and caring for them allows the father to share responsibilities that a baby brings along. Having time to dedicate solely to the child gives the father the ability to bond with their baby. A study by two Columbia University professors discovered that fathers who are given time off (two or more weeks) are more involved with their child’s lives in nine months, proving that better parental relationships come from paid paternity leave (“Columbia News”). Paternity leave also creates a foundation of trust between father and child, and relieves the pressure put on mothers. When fathers are around immediately after the baby is born, mothers are not forced to do all the work around the house while caring for a newborn. The two-week (or more) time frame when fathers are around would allow for a period where both parents can get settled and adapt to taking care of the child. In Sweden, to qualify for government benefits, the father is required to take off two months from work before the child becomes eight years old. More research has proven that for every month that fathers took leave to take care of their child, the income of mothers increased about 7% (Johansson, Elly-Ann). Thus, paternity leave not only benefits the newborn child, but also mothers. This paid leave can give new parents the ability to get to know their child and adapt to the new responsibilities. There are a multitude of countries that provide paid paternity leave, and the United States is one of nine counties who does not have this option. There is no reason that fathers should not have an allotted time to spend at home with their child and spouse, and so this country should mandate the option of giving paid paternity

Only 9% percent of American companies offer paid paternity leave for all their employees (Ramnarace,). Since Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are underpaid, it is very hard for fathers to be able to take a long absence from work and not be paid for the time off. 86 percent of men said they would not take a paid leave unless they made at least 70 percent of their current salary (Ramnarace,). There are 79 countries that have laws that require companies to offer paternity leave for fathers. There are 29 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, 5 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 12 in Lain America, 2 in the Middle East, and 24 in the Developed Economies (Ramnarace,). The United States is still behind by only having 4 states that have adopted the new laws allowing fathers a leave of absence from work with some sort of pay. While the current family leave law allows for 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, I believe the law should be expanded worldwide to allow paid leave for all fathers without using their accumulated paid leave credits (Parental).

Okay, here we gonna talks a little bit about paternity leave. And, this time we take our focus on a new father. According to the data from 2012 FMLA Worksite and Employee Surveys Abt Associates, 20% of worksites offer paid paternity leave to all or most of their employees. Researches demonstrates that father taking paternity leave could reduce the stress among family and improve the relationship with new baby.

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

There is no distinction made for mother or father, as both are deemed as important, therefore they can carve up the 16 months as needed. If the U.S. was concerned about the cost of paid parental leave, it only has to look to it’s neighbors to the north for some ideas. In the state of Québec in Canada, the government has a plan called the QPIP, or Québec Parental Insurance Plan (2). QPIP is specifically designed for the father as the mother is provided for by other means. It is, as the name states, effectively an insurance plan that gets paid into by the father, if eligible, to help provide for paid leave at the time of birth. One distinction made clear in this model though, is that the benefits are for the biological father, which could be different from the male adult who will be bringing up the child.

Pregnancy and early child development is a fundamental aspect of human society, and is pertinent to the development of a successfully functioning community. The developmental and social progress of any civilization relies on children, as they will compose the future working population. Therefore, a mother or father’s involvement in the child’s development is of extreme importance, which is why family leave has been implemented all over the world. Family leave refers to the period of time granted to the employee to care for their newborn child. As communities evolve economically, financial stability is necessary, for what is perceived to be socially successful for a child’s development, which is why paid family leave is popular throughout the world’s nations. However, ABC News reports that “the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave” (Kim, 2015); the same is true for paternity leave. The United States government has an interesting track record dealing with family leave, but in order to analyze what the US government and advocacy groups have done to solve this issue, there first needs to be an understanding on why this issue is so difficult to resolve. The arguments that support and oppose paid family leave in the United States are equally valid, therefore causing a stalemate in the attempted policy making of legislative bodies.

Women give birth nearly every day around the world, yet some fathers are hardly present to lend them support. Some fathers may not be desirous of the opportunity while others can’t find time to be there long enough. Also, some fathers can’t afford to sacrifice their pay check, which their families need to maintain the new addition. Paternity leave is time off from work granted to male employees, in the private and public sectors, to be with their spouses and newborns. Most employers rarely pay male employees paternity leave to spend time with their spouses when they deliver a child, suffer a miscarriage, or adopt a child. Men wishing to take paternity leave to assist their spouse under these conditions usually do so through paid leave such

There are some good aspects to having the father take paternity leave. Say, companies did offer

The differences between gender roles are not so apparent anymore. Men are not always the typical breadwinners and many women are not stay-at-home mothers. An article by Beaupré, Dryburgh, and Wendy (2010) described the transition that many men are going through. According to Beaupré, et al., (2010), fathers were once considered the forgotten parent. “Until recently studies on the family focused mainly on the mothers” (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fortunately, both parents are now being focused on. Fathers today are much more involved in the pregnancy and birth of their child and their child’s life in general (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Beaupré, et al., (2010) explained that women’s involvement in the labour force could be a factor to this change. Women are more educated than they were in previous years. And while women want to work more, men want to be more involved in their children’s lives (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fatherhood is occurring later in adulthood. Research stated that the majority of men are very satisfied with their involvement in their children’s lives. (Beaupré, et al., 2010).

The article, “Without Taking Away Her Leave”: A Canadian Case Study of Couples Decisions on Father’s Use of Parental Leave” explains, “More than one in four Canadian fathers now takes some paid leave at the birth of a child.” While this certain explanation is shown in a positive perspective, more fathers in the workplace should be taking hefty advantage of paid parental leave particularly to form the bond in the first six weeks. While in countries like Canada in the province of Quebec, paternity leave is more accepted by men than it is in countries like the United States. In the United States it is more likely for a father not to take any time off after his child is born. One might argue that taking too much time off after the birth of a child might take away opportunities in the workplace, but because paternity leave is becoming more accepted, it will be normal for a man to take time off. It is likely that they will have to use vacation time which might leave room for not being able to call off for an emergency. In most cases, taking twelve weeks unpaid could really hurt a family. That is why those first six weeks should be paid for. The idea

Transgenders face discrimination throughout all areas of their life including their decisions to serve in the United States Military. Transgender citizens should face no limitations when they serve as a part of the military because the budget contains the money necessary to provide the services they need, it would not affect the unit readiness, and it is unfair to not provide an equal opportunity for them.

Access to paid leave is often identified as an issue that primarily concerns working mothers, yet paid leave is also critically important for working fathers. In a society that continues to evolve, it is even more imperative to address this unequal access with an increasing number of fathers who are serving as stay at home parents (International Labor Organization, 2014). Legislation that supports fathers having the support they need to prioritize family responsibilities can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of their growing families (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Despite these advantages, the growing importance of paternal involvement with their newborns is not always supported in today’s society. The economic and social barriers fathers face may hinder them from taking paternity leave altogether, such as inadequate access to paid leave and outdated cultural norms about male breadwinners. According to survey data, most fathers in the United States only take one day of leave time for every month the typical mother takes (Harrington et al., 2014). This means that even in the twenty-first century, it appears to be more widely accepted for mothers to take off time from work to care for their families than fathers. Fewer than half the countries in the world provide men with access to paid leave to care for a new child, while virtually all provide paid maternity leave (ILO, 2014). Paid paternity leave and laws related to promote