The Changing Face of Fatherhood

Do you believe that parents should be able to leave work but still get paid when they are about to have a newborn child? In many countries, expecting mothers are able to leave work for a few weeks or months with pay when they have a newborn child. However, the weeks that the mother is able to take off from work as well as the pay she receives varies from country to country.

According to Insider, most developed countries offer maternity leave. For example:

• Australia offers 18 weeks of maternity leave with a pay rate of 42% of the mother’s regular salary.
• European countries seem to have long maternity leaves, with countries like Bulgaria giving around 57 weeks—more than a year—of maternity leave to mothers, with 78.4% of their salary.
• Japan, which has a record low marriage and birth rate, offers 14 weeks of maternity leave.
• In Canada, mothers are entitled to 17 weeks of maternity leave with 48.4% of their former salary.
• The United States offers zero weeks of mandatory maternity leave. The United States is the only developed country in the world that doesn’t guarantee any maternity leave for mothers, although some companies take it upon themselves to offer paid leave for mothers that are expecting a child. Despite this, more than 40% of companies don’t offer any paid maternity leave as it isn’t required by law.

Although most developed countries offer maternity leave, very few offer paternity leave. Paternity leave is exactly like maternity leave, where the father is able to leave his job for a period of time because he has a newborn child. Most countries in Europe offer paternity leave, as well as Canada, but there are 92 countries in the world that do not offer this family benefit, with the United States and China being among those 92 countries.

However, some companies in the United States have begun to recognize this disparity, and are now offering paid leave for the entire family. And one notable company in the United States, Dove, is offering a grant to dads who do not have access to paid paternity leave.

Dove has started a “Paternity Leave Fund” and they are making an effort to raise over $1 million dollars for fathers across America. The fund will provide about $5,000 dollars for parental leave so that fathers can spend time with their newborn child at home. Dove says, “Working dads shouldn’t have to choose between their children and a paycheck—because when they take paternity leave, it benefits families, workplaces and communities.” To receive the grant, new dads are only required to sign a pledge to commit to helping companies provide paid paternity leave.

CNN has reported that other major companies, such as Starbucks, CVS, Walmart, and Lowe’s, have also expanded and created new family leave policies, with many specifically aimed towards working fathers.

Sanshiro M., whose father is barely home, says, “My dad never being home has just become normal for me. It’s been like this since I was in elementary school.” Having gotten used to it, he says that his dad barely being home “doesn’t bother [him] that much,” but he does miss his dad at times. Also, he has become very independent “because [his] mom is busy so [he] has to do a lot of things by himself.” Sanshiro also adds that “at some point before I’m pretty sure I was mad about it, but after a few years it doesn’t have a big difference on me living my life and doesn’t bother me.”

Chloe I, whose younger sister was born two years ago, says, “When [my little sister] was born, my dad wasn’t allowed to just skip work to take care of her with my mom.” She says that her father was only allowed to leave work for a few days and even then, he kept receiving phone calls and couldn’t stay with his new daughter much. However, she adds that “[she doesn’t] think that it is in Asian culture to skip work to take care of a newborn child.” In Asian culture, being a “good” dad is to work to provide for your family, and many times this means sacrificing time with your family. Because Chloe grew up in an Asian family, she says, “I think that my dad not being there when my little sister was born was not a big deal for my family.”

Whether or not paternity leave affects your life, it is still an issue of great controversy in Western countries. Many people in different countries like the U.S. are trying to change and offer both male and female employees the opportunity to leave work with pay to be able to spend time with their newborn child. After all, if gender equality is a goal for people in many societies, helping families share parenting duties will help both mothers and fathers remain employable if they wish to—and this benefit doesn’t even take into account the benefits to children of spending more time with their fathers in their formative years.