Taking paternity leave

Description

Taking paternity leave involves enabling fathers to take time off work following the birth or adoption of a child, with the practical intent of supporting family bonding, promoting gender equality in caregiving, and improving child development outcomes. This strategy addresses problems such as unequal parental responsibilities, workplace gender bias, and insufficient support for new families by providing fathers with protected leave, encouraging shared parenting, and fostering healthier work-life balance for both parents.

Implementation

In some nations, the idea of maternity leave alone appears to be becoming outdated. The emphasis is switching to the idea of paid parental (paternal) leave. The following nations guarantee this additional leave, paid and job-protected, to enable parents (fathers) to spend more time with their children during the early years: Austria; Canada; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Italy; Japan; Norway; Sweden.