Women in Financial Services
Then something totally out of the ordinary happens. A Dad walks in.
Mark.Freed / 22 May 2018
Boardrooms to Babies
Business lends a hand to encourage Dad’s uptake of parental leave, to advance gender equality for all
As a new parent, getting out of the house and meeting people is essential; a lifeline for many, in fact. There’s music classes, baby massage, National Childbirth Trust (NCT) groups, baby clubs, swimming lessons, soft play, post-natal yoga… the list is almost endless.
For tired Mums, it’s their chance to speak to other adults, make friends, get support, compare how little sleep they’re surviving on, and maybe even drink a warm cup of tea.
Then something totally out of the ordinary happens. A Dad walks in.
He’s not ‘babysitting’ his own child, he’s not ‘helping out’ for the day while Mummy’s doing a keeping-in-touch day at the office. He’s doing exactly what the other 20 women in the room are doing. He is taking a significant period of time off work to raise his young child and be there for him or her 24/7.
Dads are welcomed with open arms (and a subconscious high five) by every Mum in that room, but he is, without doubt, very much a man in a woman’s world.
Facing the facts of shared parental leave
Shared parental leave was introduced to the UK in 2015 so that eligible parents could share up to 50 weeks of leave, and 37 weeks of pay; either separately or together.
Three years on, there are around 285,000 families eligible, but take up could be as low as two percent. While 90 percent of Dads or partners do take a short period of formal leave after the birth of their baby, two weeks paternity leave as standard, often increased by repurposing their annual leave - Mums take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, and frequently put their career aside to act as the main care provider for their family.
Emma Walsh is CEO of Parents At Work, an Australian-based organisation that’s leading the way in a global initiative to increase men’s parental leave participation observes that “dads feel the pressure to be the provider for their families, and for many that’s defined as bringing in a salary for their household, while mum takes maternity leave. There are various cultural and financial barriers to families taking shared leave, and it can be a complicated and often confusing thing for employers to implement, so it’s fairly standard for mums to slip into the role of primary carer. It’s easy to see how stereotypes take hold. But what we see when men do choose to take an extended period of parental leave is that the experience and skills gained from a practical perspective, plus the deeper connection they build with their child, significantly enriches both their work and family. Essentially they become more engaged and productive in all areas of life.”
Tackling the gap head on
In the UK, The Women and Equalities Select Committee is pushing for Dads to receive an extra 12 weeks of dedicated leave in the first year of their baby’s life. They also want the two weeks’ statutory paternity pay fathers currently get, to be paid at 90 per cent of their earnings, capped for those on higher salaries, and for paternity pay to be a right for all employees.
Their demands are a positive move, especially in the light of a number of studies that have shown men feel financially, professionally, and culturally unable to take the time away from work to play an active role in their children’s early years. Worryingly, they report feeling that their employers wouldn’t support them in taking time off and that a request to move to flexible working arrangements could dent their career.
With the gender pay gap a hot topic of conversation at the moment, the time is right for parental leave to be added to the debate. There’s no doubt it’s a vital part of a holistic solution. Were employers to encourage and enable more Dads to take shared parental leave, they’d be able to move into what has long been the traditional role of Mum; enabling her to go back to work and keep building her career.
Finding a better balance for employees
Sarah Jackson, OBE, is the CEO of Working Families; the UK’s leading work-life balance organisation. The charity helps working parents and carers, and their employers, find a better balance between responsibilities at home and work.
“When Working Families surveyed Fathers last year, 52% said they would make use of shared parental leave. The main reasons they gave were to spend time bonding with their newborn child, and because they and their partner wanted to share care. Of those Fathers who said they wouldn’t use the scheme, more than a third said this was because they couldn’t afford to. We’d encourage employers that can afford to do so to go beyond the minimum pay for shared parental leave, making it a realistic option for more families.
“There are simple reforms the Government could bring to the scheme – making it a day-one right, as maternity leave already is, and extending the scheme to self-employed parents – to allow more families to benefit.
“But ultimately, offering Fathers a properly paid period of independent leave, alongside shared parental leave, is what will really help the UK go further on the journey towards equality at work and at home.”
All eyes on Swedish Dads
Swedish employers are recognised around the world as having the most inclusive approach to parenting, offering Dads 90 days leave.
So as part of this advocacy initiative, Parents At Work is sharing ‘Swedish Dads’; a photographic exhibition by Johan Bävman.
Bävman’s photographs and associated quotes poignantly illustrate the lives of 23 Swedish Dads and 10 Australian Dads who chose to stay home with their families for at least six months. One of the men photographed, 32-year-old engineer, Urban Nordh, sums up why shared parental leave is an integral part of modern family life, he explains: “My wife and I try to be as equal as possible in our everyday life, and taking equal responsibility for bringing up our children is part of that effort.”
The world-wide exhibition shows how extended parental leave has changed their lives for the better. The photographs show, in Emma’s words, “what a positive impact sharing parental leave can have on women, men, children, society, and the broader economy.”
Be part of the change
On 13 June 2018, Parents At Work, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden and hosted by University College London, will bring together business leaders event for an international think-tank event, and a private viewing of Bävman’s photographic exhibition.
The not-for-profit event, Advancing Parental Leave Equality for UK Fathers, is designed to stimulate, inspire and unite the UK business community to discuss ways to improve the way they support fathers to share parental leave by addressing cultural, policy and system changes.
There are a limited number of places available, so if you want to be part of it, sign up here today.
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