Paid Paternity Leave

In today’s society the dynamics of the family have changed drastically in the last 50 years, are the rules and laws for businesses and employers keeping up with the changes? Paternity leave is the time a father takes off work for the birth or adoption of a new child in the family. This kind of leave is rare and even rarer is paid paternity leave. A very few enlightened companies offer new dads time off from a few days to a few weeks, however, it still falls short of the 6 to 12 weeks women get for maternity leave. Finally, in 2004 California became the first state to offer what they call PFL or “Paid Family Leave”, allowing 6 weeks off with 55% of usual pay replaced up to $1,075 per week, this is a definite start. In most states, dads are forced to take their vacation time, sick days or unpaid leave from their jobs when their children are born. Yet women have received maternity leave for decades.(Weber and Lublin) Family leave is about treating people equally and not constraining them with gender roles and the social stigma that goes with it, when the man of the family is the main bread winner and the woman’s job is to take care of the children.

Paternity leave is just as important as maternity leave in today’s society, so let’s get rid of the stigma that goes with it, let’s change the name to “Family Leave”, let’s offer it to fathers, so their career is not in jeopardy and let’s allow dad to stay home so mom can go back to work sooner if she wants to.

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ccording to Ross Parke, professor of psychology at the University of California, while researching his book “Throwaway Dads”, Parke found that “Offering paternity leave is only half the battle,” he says. “The real problem is getting men to actually take it.” Fathers were afraid of the stigma that went along with it and how it would affect their careers in the future. A good example is when Sports Talk radio host Mike Francesca condemned Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy for taking three days off when his wife had a baby. Francesca called the paternity leave a “scam and a half.” Daniel Murphy only missed two games. “I mean, what would you possibly be doing?” Francesa said during his WFAN broadcast, “I guarantee you're not sitting there holding your wife's hand.” “One day, I understand,” he said. “Go see the baby be born, and come back. You're a major league baseball player, you can hire a nurse.” “Your wife doesn't need your help those first couple days, you know that,” Francesca foolishly said. “What are you gonna do? Sit there and look at your wife in the hospital bed for three days?” Francesca also criticized his co-workers for taking paternity leave, he stated, “For what, to take pictures?” The listening audience response was fantastic! Francesa's male listeners were angry and they called in saying the old-timer had outdated ideas of a dad's responsibility and he was out of touch with today’s world. One caller responded, “For you to say 'oh it's okay, let's throw some money at a nurse and have them take care of the kid,' and not let Daniel Murphy take two days in the beginning of the season is crazy.” Another caller said, “He plays a 162 game season; he wants to spend time with his family.” Francesca even had the nerve to say Murphy should have told his wife to have a C-section before the season started.(Alter) Luckily, the majority of people feel differently than Mike Francesca, perceptions are changing. A national survey showed that the majority of men and women think that it's important for employers to give workers time off to meet family responsibilities, and support the expansion of the FMLA, “Family and Medical Leave Act” The Family and Medical Leave Act took effect in 1993 to help balance workplace demands with the medical needs of employees and their families. It gives 12 weeks of unpaid leave, which is a start, but it definitely needs to be updated and expanded.(Graves)
A new study from the Boston College Center for Work and Family found that new dads take paternity leave only when it’s paid and only 14% of employers offer any pay for family leave, compared to 58% for maternity leave. (Poniewozik) As men take on more caregiving duties, they need flexibility at work. Yet, the main fear is that reducing time at the office will damage their career. The evidence suggests that men in traditional roles are rewarded for putting their jobs first, while men who put importance on their family are penalized for doing so. They are viewed as lazy, not ambitious and not serious about moving up in the company. Unfortunately, even in today’s world, the public is supportive of the stay at home mom, but they place less value on the stay at home dad. They still think kids are better off with their mother. Nonetheless, the majority of men under 40 years of age are reclassifying what it means to be a dad and they are determined to change it for future dads.
Family leave is about treating people equally and not limiting them by gender roles. Who said that the man of the family is always the main bread winner? Who said that it’s the mother’s job is to take care of the kids? So if the mother makes more money, why can’t she go back to work sooner and the father take the full six weeks family leave instead? According to a Pew Research Center analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau, a record 40% of all households include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family. Also the share of mothers saying their ideal situation would be to work full time increased from 20% in 2007 to 32% in 2012. (Wang, Parker and Taylor) Times are changing, dads are more involved in their kid’s life than ever before and increasingly more moms are making more money than their spouse. Family has always been the priority with both men and women, so it’s time the business world accepts this and changes things accordingly.
Dads now represent 16 percent of all stay-at-home parents, up from 10 percent in 1989. The number of stay-at-home Dads has doubled in the last 25 years, reaching a peak of 2.2 million in 2010, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center. (Wang, Parker and Taylor) The fastest growing segment of stay at home Dads say it’s their choice to be at home with the kids. David Worford, a former web editor, stated, “Most of my income was going directly to child care. Throw on that I was handling most of the domestic workload anyway because of the hours my wife was working. It just made sense to make the move both economically and for family life. It was great to have a constant at home.” His wife agrees, saying, “It makes my job way easier, knowing that I don’t have to worry.” Many families can’t afford the cost of childcare. For example, a year of daycare in Minnesota costs more than a year’s worth of tuition at a state college. (Walton) The traditional family structure is ever changing, we need to keep working toward a positive resolve and dads need to continue to fight to make the changes necessary to be more a part of their kid’s life.(Wang, Parker and Taylor)