Does paternity leave benefit all of the family?

It certainly does for a single parent. Paternity leave is the time a father takes off from work to spend at home with his family upon the birth of a new child. Fifteen years ago, fathers in America rarely took time off from work to take care of a new child. Today, with both parents working, and the mother convalescing after the birth, fathers have a legislated right to take this type of leave. More fathers are using this opportunity to be there when the baby comes home and give a helping hand to the family.

A 2001 study at Columbia University found that 89% of families surveyed had fathers who took time off from work after the birth of a child. The majority took less than a week, while a third took two weeks or more. Still, the numbers are encouraging. Fathers today want to be more involved with their families and raising their children.

Comparisons show that the US has no paid paternity leave, but has unpaid paternity leave for 12 weeks with the following restrictions; that the father be covered under FMLA and must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months prior and 1250 hours during that time. Some countries such as Cameroon, Tanzania, Bahamas, and Brazil, all have paid leave from five to ten days, some with no restrictions.

The countries which score the highest are Canada with paid leave of up to 35 weeks, leave shared with the mother, and 55% of pay up to $413 a week. Also, countries like Norway and Sweden which have from 45 weeks at 80% of their salaries to 480 days paid leave. Figures show that paternity leave in America is better than some countries, but worse than some of the major European countries. Nevertheless, all this shows that fathers are taking more of an interest in their families and find the experience of raising their children rewarding. The Columbia University study suggests as well that fathers who take more than two weeks paternity leave are much more likely to remain engaged and involved in child care responsibilities when they return to work.

Responses from two fathers who had benefited from paternity leave

1. The DadLabs crew was in Stockholm back in June to check out the paternity leave system there, and we were blown away. All you have to do is sit on a street corner and watch the number of dads pushing strollers to understand the cultural impact of these policies."


2. Paternity leave is such an important first step in terms of getting dads more involved. What’s somewhat shocking, however, is how, even when companies have paid leave policies in our country, more often than not (at least from my interviews) the dads don’t take full advantage of it. Further, he goes on to say that there’s also a cultural component in the sense that many men see themselves still at this point as having their breadwinning role remain paramount and any threat to undermining that would make them less of a man.

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