Achieving real gender equality is something that many believe comes down to being able to offer both men and women the chance to balance childcare with career responsibilities. A significant step towards this has been the opening up of parental leave to offer fathers the opportunity to share the leave that has more traditionally been assigned only to the mother. The new rules on shared parental leave are due to come into play in the UK in April of next year and many see them as a significant step forward towards real equality in the workplace. With more than 44% of those fathers who took part in research by the organisation Cityfathers indicating that missing their children was one of their biggest daily challenges, the new rules should go a long way towards redressing the balance for everyone involved.
When shared parental leave becomes available in April 2015 it will give fathers the opportunity to share 12 months leave after the birth of a child with the mother. The idea behind this is not just to give new fathers the opportunity to play more of a role in the life of a newborn but also to provide new mothers with the chance to return to work earlier without any dip in the care of a new baby. The new rules require a couple to provide a detailed breakdown of how the leave will be shared at least eight weeks before it starts. If circumstances change then this plan can be altered twice during the course of the 12 months of leave. In addition, there will also be a new right for fathers to take unpaid leave from work to attend up to two antenatal appointments.
The proposed time off will need to be agreed by the father’s boss and employers have a right to insist that any time taken during the year is taken during one continuous block, rather than spread out over numerous different periods. Although these restrictions have been criticised by some, the new rules remain far and away a better prospect for those fathers looking to take advantage of shared parental leave than the two weeks of paternity leave that fathers are currently offered.
The eligibility criteria for being able to take shared parental leave require both parents to have been working for a current employer for at least 26 weeks continuously at the 15th week before the week in which the child is due to be born. In practice this will mean that only around a third of working families will be able to take advantage of the new rules. In addition, there have been many questions over whether or not men will want to take this additional leave. Principally, issues over being the main breadwinner, cultural attitudes towards men who take time off from work to focus on a family, and the fact that statutory paternity pay is still lower than the minimum wage are all part of the problem.
The government is predicting a 3-4% take up of shared parental leave on the basis of various surveys carried out, as well as the cultural factors mentioned. However, many believe that they could be surprised by the numbers of men who take the step to be more involved at home