I believe that men should be entitled to the same leave options as women after the birth of a child. No, not because men have to endure the same hardship as women when giving birth (obviously), but because by not having equal parental leave, we are forcing women to be the primary caregiver, which usually hangs around for life. Note: for simplicity, i’m going to describe a typical male:female nuclear family in this post, although I understand there are many issues for other make ups of couples which I haven’t discussed
By having maternity leave, and not a similar paternity leave, we are forcing women to sacrifice their work. The most common argument against there being a gender pay gap is that in Australia, women get paid (most of the time) equal to men for equal work, which is largely true, but many would agree that women typically sacrifice their earnings to have children, therefore, earning less over their career to a matched male who did not take time off. Now on the surface, this sounds fine and like it is the choice of the woman to take time off. Although in high-income countries the average maternity leave is 276 days and paternity leave, 56 days, thus women are coerced into taking this leave as they are more likely to get some benefits than the man, where there is no support set up (ie. equal paternity leave). This sets up the woman as the primary caregiver, and makes changing that further down the line much more challenging. Why? because if a mother takes a year of maternity leave and the father returns to work after 2-4 weeks, the father has had more time to progress in his workplace, therefore, will be earning more income, making it a financial burden for him to become the primary caregiver further down the line. It makes financial sense for the mother to just return part-time and remain looking after the child. This situation reduces the mothers future earning potential because she is less likely to be promoted as a part-time employee and then at the same age, is able to earn significantly less than the father who returned full time. A survey from PwC showed nearly 50% of mothers said they felt they were overlooked from a promotion because they had children, clearly showing the impacts of having children on future earnings.
That scenario is a relatively direct effect of having maternity leave without equal paternity leave. An indirect effect is that when age-matched males and females are applying for a job in their late 20’s and early 30’s, if they are of equal ability, it is logical a company with maternity leave and not paternity leave to choose the male, as they are more likely to have less time off in the event of having a child, making them a more productive worker. Now this may not happen everywhere, but I’m sure it does occur.
So whats the answer? It is clear that even though maternity leave affording women more flexibility in the short term, it actually stunts their career growth compared to an equivalent male. The answer is to have parental leave, which can be used equally between males and females, allowing the decision about who takes leave completely up to the family, if the mother would prefer to have more leave and be the primary caregiver, they are able to, but the father is equally able to make the same decision, it is not being made for them. Increased paternity leave or better, parental leave has shown increased earnings for the mother, reduced number of sick days taken by the mother and increased female employment in private firms (World Bank: 2020). It sounds one solution to improving gender equity in the workforce, but does it actually work?
In Iceland in 2019, they introduced parental leave for 9 months, with at least 3 months given to the father, and this has put Iceland at the forefront of gender equity in europe, and the world. Although social attitudes are still that the mothers should stay home to care for their children, but this is slowly changing as well.
Ultimately, I find it fascinating that paternity leave, something which is ostensibly in benefit of men, is actually a crucial part of creating gender equality.
Harrison Hansford 