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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, but comments are welcome. | | | Paternity leave, once nonexistent, has gradually become more common. For example, the FMLA treats male and female parents symmetrically: employers covered under the FMLA must offer at least twelve weeks of unpaid leave to new fathers as well as new mothers. However, while many employers go above and beyond the FMLA-required minimum limits for female employees, the same is not true for male employees. For example, among the Institute for Women's Policy Research "Working Mother 100 Best Companies" - a set of employers that one would expect to be particularly friendly toward family leave issues - 93% offered paid maternity leave, while only 35% offered paid paternity leave. None of these employers offered more than six weeks paid leave for new fathers, while nearly 50% did so for new mothers. Another study, conducted in 2005, found that 54% of employers offered paid leave to new mothers, while only 12% offered (any) paid leave to new fathers. employers who offer maternity leave, 46% offered some paid leave to new mothers. Among employers who offered paternity leave, only 13% offered paid leave to new fathers. While the rising numbers of employers offering paternity leave surely encourage many men to take time off for a new child when they would not otherwise do so, the incentives are not as strong as they are for women so long as paternity leave programs remain less generous than similar maternity programs. | |
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< | Furthermore, it is likely that even if paternity leave programs were both universal and as generous as maternity leave programs, men would still be less likely than women to take time off. For example, in Sweden, where employers are required to offer | >
> | Furthermore, it is likely that even if paternity leave programs were both universal and as generous as maternity leave programs, men would still be less likely than women to take time off. For example, in Sweden, where employers are required to offer sixteen months paid leave at 80% salary (subsidized by the government), to be split as a couple sees fit, men only take about 20% of the available leave. The statistic might be even more skewed if not for the fact that each parent is required to take a portion of the available leave time. The explanation cannot be that, because men earn more, couples are unwilling to have the higher wage earner forgo employment: either parent is paid in proportion according to his or her salary. The reasons, then, must be the standard cultural ones: women are expected to raise children, whether because of beliefs about their superior parenting skills or lingering prejudice about their overall unsuitability for the workforce. Also, whether explicitly or not, it is clear that employers are likely to reserve coveted promotions for the most demonstrably committed employees. So long as most managerial positions go to males, men cannot afford to take themselves out of the running for these positions by taking advantage of paternity leave, even when it is available. | | | | |
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> | Mandatory Paternity Leave: A Bold Leap Forward
So long women take the vast majority of parental leave, employers will look warily on many female candidates for fear that they will interrupt their careers to the detriment of the employer. Many women will correctly suspect employers of this wariness and be chilled from even applying to various opportunities that would give women a better foothold in the power positions of the economy. The solution is to require symmetry in practice as well as in form. Men should not only have the option of paid leave, but should be required to take it, in durations equal to female leave, whether taken concurrently or sequentially. In this way, both sexes, not just one, would have a hand in the early raising of children. Father-child bonds would be strengthened. Parents would be less resentful of careers and employers that serve as an impediment to, rather than a partner in, family life. Productivity losses due to mandatory leave would be at least partially offset by improved employee life satisfaction in the time immediately preceding and following the leave.
While a system of mandatory paternity leave is so radical a departure from the present system as to have little political currency, the objections it raises are not insurmountable. The primary objection is that the system would certainly involve vast expense, in proportion to the amount by which the government subsidized it. The countries that currently have government-supported paid leave programs are those already with a cultural mindset that embraces social safety nets. While these fiscal concerns are beyond the scope of this paper, suffice it to say that: (1) Movement toward mandatory paternity leave need not be sudden, but can proceed gradually; (2) Industry has already embarked on the trajectory on its own; (3) The government can begin with incentives for employers to begin offering better paternity leave packages, rather than immediately moving to outright funding.
Another powerful objection is that government should not be in the business of hampering some people in the interest of securing equality for all.
Another objection is that we simply need stronger laws to prevent employers from denying promotions based on leave. But this is too hard to police.
Another objection is discouraging childbirth. But see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4629631.stm | | | | |
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< | First of all, to be effective, paternity leave must at least be equal to maternity leave (Unpaid paternity leave is no good; only 35% of the "Institute for Women's Policy Research "working Mother 100 Best Companies," which would be expected to be a particularly family-friendly set, offer paid paternity leave: - compare to 93% of companies in that group offering paid maternity leave: http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/parentalleaveA131.pdf) | | | | |
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< | But even if paternity leave policies are structured the same, there are still problems:
Women more likely to actually take leave because of cultural pressure / habit, the fact that men earn more (few men actually take paternity leave; see Swedish situation:http://www.thelocal.se/10420/20080312/) | | | | |
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< | Mandatory Paternity Leave: | | | It is too difficult to police whether firms are loathe to hire women because of the potential for maternity leave, and because of that, many women will be chilled from ever applying to certain jobs or firms in the first place. The solution, then, is to require symmetry in practice as well as in form. If both employers and women know that |
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