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Campaigners tie baby slings to statues in call for better UK paternity leave
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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I live in a country where parental leave doesn't discriminate between mothers and fathers (or one parent or another if it's a same sex couple). Parental leave can be up to two years BUT it's split into 75% for one parent, 25% for the other. I have yet to meet a man who has taken even a fraction of that 25% (aside from the paternal leave right after the baby is born, which is separate and covers a few weeks). This isn't to say it's an issue with men, but more an issue of a society that dissuades men from taking more than the bare minimum of parental leave, where women are still expected to take one the main caregiver role for children, and where men generally earn more than women. Until these issues are fixed and men are highly encouraged to take parental leave, just making that time available (even if a necessary first step) won't be enough.
Edit: got my percentages wrong
It's a weird position to take, if I was offered parental leave I'd take it all and probably wouldn't want to come back to work.
Fair enough if you live in a place where people actually like their jobs and want to be there, but that doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of us.