What Is a Good Number of Days Off Work for a Man After a Baby Is Born?

Paternity go out: The hidden barriers keeping men at work

Paternity go out, which comes with multiple benefits, is more widely offered than ever before. So, why aren't more men taking it?

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In summer 2018, Ricardo Duque was about to begin five months of paternity leave from the architecture firm where he worked in London. Merely, then, his grandmother in southern Portugal contracted a astringent case of pneumonia.

Duque's married woman, who is Indian, had just resumed working at Samsung, after seven months of maternity leave. "I'd barely spent any time lone with our daughter," the 42-yr-old recalls. "Simply I had no option. I took her to Portugal, and spent the next few weeks looking after my tiny baby and my grandma, with very little help from anyone else."

From the moment Duque and his wife discovered they were expecting, he knew that he wanted to accept a substantial corporeality of paternity get out, which his partner endorsed. Despite worrying that he was getting "looks" from colleagues and being "judged by managers" when he informed them of his programme – and even though his leave did not start exactly as envisioned –  the experience turned out to be extremely rewarding.

"The time we spent together was invaluable and I wouldn't change information technology for the world," he says. "We now have such a special bond."

Across the United kingdom, US and many other parts of the globe, however, not-birthing parents similar Duque who accept parental get out are a depressingly pocket-sized minority. The number of countries where paternity get out is enshrined in police force has more doubled to almost 90 in the last 20 years; and globally, at least iv out of every 10 organisations are thought to provide paid leave above the statutory minimum. Yet, the proportion of men who accept more than a few days off piece of work when their child is built-in is tiny.

Most cite fears of existence discriminated against professionally, missing out on pay rises and promotions, being marginalised or even mocked as reasons for not taking time off. Academics consider these concerns to be the effect of deeply ingrained and highly damaging stereotypes around gender – and suggest that changing this will require significant cultural shifts as well every bit ameliorate institutional provision of paid paternity leave.

Internalised stereotypes

Thekla Morgenroth, a enquiry fellow in Social and Organisational Psychology at the Academy of Exeter, UK, says that gender stereotypes have persisted, fifty-fifty though gender roles at work have inverse substantially in the last few decades, with much college numbers of women entering and staying in the workforce.

"Women are no longer seen equally less competent than men, simply women go on to exist seen every bit more communal – warm, nurturing and caring – than men and, in plough, as more than suitable for roles that require these attributes such as childcare," they explain. "Men, on the other hand, go along to be seen every bit more agentic: decisive, assertive, competitive."

This, says Morgenroth, can affect decisions regarding parental leave in a multitude of ways. "First, women and men can internalise these stereotypes, pregnant that men might call back that they are not very communal and thus wouldn't be very skillful at taking care of a babe. Their female partners may of course as well endorse gender stereotypes and discourage their male partners from taking parental leave considering they don't recollect they're capable."

A key factor is that gender stereotypes are not only descriptive but also prescriptive; they signal what women and men shouldbe similar – including the idea that men should prioritise work over family.

"Men who do have parental leave can therefore confront backlash and be seen as weak, lacking piece of work commitment then on, which tin result in consequences at work such equally being demoted or not taken seriously," they say. "Men are, of course, aware of these potential consequences and this could definitely contribute to them deciding against taking parental leave fifty-fifty if it's offered."

No office models

Advice is a prime number factor that Sarah Forbes, lecturer and academic researcher at Birmingham Academy Business organization School, UK, identifies as another invisible barrier to men taking the exit that they are entitled to.

In 2015, the UK introduced a shared parental leave policy assuasive eligible parents to split up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between them. Just research in 2018 showed that of the more than than 900,000 UK parents who were eligible to take advantage of the policy that year, merely 9,200 parents – or well-nigh ane% – did.

Gender stereotypes and workplaces pressures can all deter men from taking time off – merely in that location are multiple benefits when they do (Credit: Getty Images)

Ricardo Duque says that this might be partly a result of fathers simply not knowing their rights. "When I took paternity go out, I was shocked at how few other dads knew what they were entitled to," he says.

Forbes believes information technology's important to have visible "fatherhood champions" at companies, beyond different sections and departments both to inspire fathers to accept leave and also ameliorate their cognition of exit provisions. "Besides, if managers are knowledgeable of the organisation's offering around paternity go out and shared parental leave, this will lead to parents being more than aware of what their entitlements are."

Thekla Morgenroth also considers role models to be of paramount importance. "If other men are taking parental leave at a specific company, information technology shows that taking parental get out is normal and adequate for men to practise," they explain. "These effects are likely particularly pronounced when men in leadership positions take parental leave, because they can deed as function models and demonstrate that you can exist successful even if you take parental leave."

Unfortunately, nevertheless, there's evidence that it's precisely these men, the ones at the highest echelons who are most visible, who tend to take the least go out. Enquiry conducted across Frg, Austria and Switzerland in 2017 showed that fathers without leadership responsibility were much more probable to take go out as planned than their peers who were managers. More than responsibility, the researchers reasoned, simply equated to greater perceived pressure to exist nowadays at work.

"That needs to change," says Morgenroth. "It'due south of course great if companies offering extensive paid parental leave for fathers, and they absolutely should, but as long as leaders don't demonstrate that men won't be penalised for making use of such policies, not much will change."

Unspoken norms

Workplace experts are warning that the immense dubiety created by the Covid-19 pandemic – and specifically anxiety around task security – is simply likely to take exacerbated workers' concerns about taking time off.

In ane survey of over 500 U.s. fathers conducted at the end of May, about two-thirds of respondents admitted that in that location was an unspoken dominion that men at their jobs should not take total paternity leave – and that taking every bit little as possible was "a badge of honour".

Ninety percent of those surveyed reported their employer offered less than 12 weeks of paternity get out, merely almost two-thirds said that they planned to take less than half of that. Fifty-eight percent admitted that they were afraid that taking even six weeks of paternity go out would set up their careers back.

Dads who take time off go on to have closer relationships with their kids, research shows (Credit: Getty)

In the US, although individual companies offer paternity get out, fathers are not legally entitled to any paid parental leave. In fact, the U.s.a. is one of simply a handful of countries without any mandated paid leave for birthing mothers, also. President Joe Biden has included expanded provision in his American Families Plan, but it's not at all clear whether the legislation will pass.

In recent months, caring responsibilities have caused millions of women to go out jobs; the US women's labour forcefulness participation rate, for example, slumped to its lowest level since 1988. Gender norms seem to have become even more than entrenched by the pandemic – something which, combined with ongoing economic instability, could potentially make information technology even harder for fathers who desire time off.

Unappreciated upsides

Many academics say what's peculiarly frustrating about the depression take-upward of paternity leave, whether in the US or elsewhere, is the potential that it has to reduce the gender pay gap. "Gender inequality will continue in the workplace for as long as early-years parenting is primarily seen as women'southward work," says Emma Banister, professor at the University of Manchester'due south Piece of work and Equalities Institute. "The electric current policy framework doesn't exercise enough to challenge this."

Research has highlighted other important advantages of fathers taking exit, too. A paper published in 2019 showed that even nine years later, children whose fathers took at least two weeks of paternity exit after they were born reported feeling closer to their fathers than children with fathers who did not take exit. In a separate paper, academics found that for heterosexual married couples, the male parent taking any paternity leave after the birth of a child can as well cause the divorce risk to driblet for upward to six years after the birth.

Some countries have made strides when it comes to men taking more parental go out. Sweden offers parents 480 days of paid parental go out per child that they are entitled to share. Each parent tin can transfer part of their go out to the other, only 90 days take to be reserved specifically for each parent. From 2008 until 2017, equally an incentive for fathers to take more time off, families were entitled to a monetary bonus determined past the number of days divided equally between parents.

The policy seems to be working: One study in 2019 showed that approximately 90% of eligible Swedish fathers claim paternity leave and that on boilerplate, they take 96% of the total corporeality of get out time allotted to them. Sweden is also a leader among advanced economies in terms of female labour market participation.

Supporting a more equal society

In the absence of this kind of comprehensive legislation, however, Banister believes that employers should reduce barriers to taking paternity get out by "normalising employees taking leave during the first twelvemonth of their child's birth or adoption, regardless of the employees' gender or sexual orientation".

There are more specific considerations besides, she says, similar the timing of the leave. Company-subsidised parental leave, if offered, is often restricted to the outset few months – when it may suit parents meliorate for the mother to be at domicile, particularly if she is breastfeeding. If employers gave all parents decent pay for a period of fourth dimension, regardless of when they take information technology (and in addition to a menstruum of fully-paid paternity go out effectually the time of the nascence), this would give parents much more than flexibility.

But ideally, says Banister, exit for fathers and financial back up for that leave should be the land's responsibility, because putting the onus on employers – as is the case in the US – tin can lead to a "two-tier system" where but sure sectors offer paternity leave.

Ultimately, information technology seems, removing the barriers that deter fathers from taking time off begins with acceptable provision, well-communicated, which can then start to reduce gender stereotypes and mainstream the practice.

"The government should offer an appropriate minimum package which encourages behaviours that support a more gender equal society," says Banister.

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Source: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210712-paternity-leave-the-hidden-barriers-keeping-men-at-work

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