Extended paternity leave is a baby step towards equal parenting
In a family, the choice of who goes back to work and who stays home to look after the baby is usually an economic one
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Your support makes all the difference.Where are the male executives taking extended paternity leave? They’re far too difficult to find. Less than 1 per cent of dads entitled to Additional Parenting Leave takes it, according to the TUC. Nearly 300,000 new dads could have up to six months at home caring for their child. A tiny fraction of them actually do so.
If mums earned more, maybe dads would feel more able to stay at home. The childcare conversation must be set in the broader context of equal pay. Nick Clegg says new dads in the civil service will get the same paternity pay and benefits as mothers if they decide to take more than the statutory two weeks off. That will help, but in the private sector, until mums can routinely earn as much as dads, we’ll still be calling it “maternity” leave.
The pay gap between male and female employees is discernible and can make for depressing reading. Women earn 80p for every pound earned by men. The pay gap between men and women in their 20s has doubled since the start of this decade, jumping from 2.6 per cent to 5.3 per cent, according to figures based on the Office of National Statistics’ annual survey of hours and incomes. It has also risen for women in their 30s, from 11.9 per cent to 12 per cent.
These are the age brackets in which most people want to have children. Whilst there are plenty of households where the woman is now the high earner, the stats show that overall this often isn’t the case. Even where men and women work the same job, the pay gap can exist.
In a family, the choice of who goes back to work and who stays home to look after the baby is usually an economic one. With a child to raise, even an extra £100 a month makes a crucial difference. And worries about money in the short-term are compounded by fears over a possible future loss of earnings. As one friend and devoted dad told me: “When you’re a highly paid executive at a multi-million pound company, taking unpaid leave isn’t feasible for your career.”
While taking extra time to spend with your child doesn’t pay the bills, it enriches your life, and theirs. Fathers need assurance that their families will remain financially supported if they stay at home. This week’s news of extra paternity pay in the civil service is a good start, but still a baby step.
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