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Dads 'to share maternity leave'

by generaldecay | September 21, 2009 at 05:43 am

239 views | 54 Recommendations | 12 comments

Fathers will be able to take six months' paternity leave, the government has announced. The move will allow mothers to decide to return to work after six months and fathers to stay at home for the rest of the 12 months off allowed by law.

Good, and not before time. I highlighted a piece on NP recently about the advantages of extending paternity leave (for the family, for women, and for men) and another one about how the recession is leading to increased bullying of pregnant women in the workplace. Any moves to equalise both parents' leave in the first year of a child's life are welcome. (Of course, the highlighted piece does not indicate how the new legislation would apply to same-sex couples, but that's arguably a separate discussion.)

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Beaulieu

at 06:15 on September 21st, 2009

Meanwhile many of the childfree are being penalised and being discriminated against, by not being allowed to have sabbaticals for voluntary work or other interests by their employers.

What about absent fathers? Or ones that have several children going on at the same time, with different mothers? I know a person (not a friend!) whose wife was giving birth and his mistress was also pregnant.

It may also risk more abuse of kids as fathers are made to be at home with their crying children.

I think it is good on the whole that fathers make more effort with the kids but the Childfree workforce are often left to pick up their work, and will be often overworked.

israeli.agent

at 06:01 on September 21st, 2009

Good Government..! But there should be a limit for how many births. Otherwise this facility too will be misused by those who can and will misuse.

.Agent.

Beaulieu

at 06:22 on September 21st, 2009

Yes, it will be misused. You can bank on it:-)

The_Cynic

at 09:53 on September 21st, 2009

Nothing wrong with egalitarian laws.

Barry Artiste

at 12:11 on September 21st, 2009

As a Father of three, after taking leave with me first, let me tell you Work was a friggin vacation.

Beaulieu

at 13:44 on September 21st, 2009

Yes, sounds awful Barry:-)

Beaulieu

at 13:46 on September 21st, 2009

And imagine all that rubbish morning telly too.

a211423

at 13:43 on September 21st, 2009

This is great news for the UK, and for the babies who benefit from having parents be their only caregivers for the first year.

I had a pen pal in the 1980s from Russia, and she told me that women there got one year off paid leave when having a baby, and their jobs were secured. I don't know if this was extended to all women or just some professions. But it's generous nonetheless. She was surprised when I told her that in the U.S., some Moms only got 3-4 weeks, and some low paying jobs no leave at all.

Beaulieu

at 13:53 on September 21st, 2009

In Take-a-Break magazine loads of women, after their baby, feel really lonely and the magazine has been trying to help them find friends ie chums4mums. Perhaps they ought to do a chum4dads too, there's only so much babytalk anyone can put up with. People forget about the loneliness that parenthood can bring.

generaldecay

at 02:53 on September 22nd, 2009

Thank you for all your comments and recommendations, folks. I'm currently running around this dear country in a manner not dissimilar to that of a headless chicken, so I just don't have time to respond individually. All is appreciated, as always.

Alice