Dads want more time with their children

Dads are working long hours, struggling to balance work and family life and four in ten say they don't spend enough time with their children, according to a report published today from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which you can download here. Forty five per cent of fathers don't take the two weeks paternity leave that they're entitled to, most because they can't afford to - it's paid at a statutory rate of £123.06 a week. And forty per cent don't ask for flexible work arrangements that would allow them to spend more time with their children because they fear that their commitment to their work will be questioned and the request will harm their career prospects. However, most dads include flexible working as a an option they would look for in a new job so offering it could give employers an edge.

The EHRC has outlined and costed policies that it claims would meet the needs of both businesses and modern families which include:

• two weeks’ paternity leave at the birth of their child at 90 per cent pay

• four months of dedicated 'parental leave' with at least eight weeks of leave being at 90 per cent pay
• another four months’ parental leave - that can be taken by either mother or father – eight weeks of which is taken at 90 per cent pay.

The fact that parental leave is so weighted towards mums benefits those women who want to stay at home with their children as long as they can, but does give the message that childcare is the responsibility of women rather than a shared opportunity. The report includes an interesting discrepancy between the number of men and women reporting that they shared primary responsibility for the care of their children; 31% of dads say they share it with their partners while only 14% of women say they do - and other studies have found similar results. It perhaps suggests that dads overestimate their contribution to childcare, or mums underestimate it, or perhaps a bit of both!

Comments

[Ruth Thomas]

Yes, parental leave is strongly weighted towards mums. But there is a real, biological reason for that: mothers breastfeed, fathers don't. OK not all mothers do, but national policies can't really ask individuals whether or not they are doing so! The government is keen to encourage breastfeeding for some very practical reasons of infant and maternal health, and cutting back on maternity leave rights (even for the excellent purpose of giving some of those rights to fathers) would be the quickest way of cutting back on the amount of breastfeeding that happens. It's one of those few areas where strict gender equality simply can't happen.

[Jenny]

Interesting that you've read this as a call to cut back on maternity leave in a way that would jeopardise breast-feeding. I'd thought it was more about making paternity leave more accessible and more acceptable for those men who want to be more involved in the care of their children.