The Fatherhood Institute’s Post

Thank you again The Fatherhood Institute for sharing my findings. One of my motivations for undertaking the FOI was to understand HEIs' approaches to leave eligibility. Given the high proportion of HE colleagues on fixed term contracts, what happens if you are between contracts / recently started on yet another funding limited contract? Its not easy to plan a family in a precarious contract setting and sometime life does not work that way, right? [Less than 26 weeks service at the 'qualifying week', that's the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, you may be entitled to Maternity Allowance only - currently approx £180 per week (no equivalent for fathers)] One of my findings was that 20 HEIs have responded to by removing the eligibility criteria for enhanced family related leave, making it a day one right. Coincidentally, I've been reviewing some HEI family leave policies this morning and noticed a few (that have not removed the eligibility clause) instead have a clause along the lines of "if you are not eligible to statutory/occupational maternity pay..., to ensure you are on paid leave..., consideration in exceptional cases... of hardship, at the universities discretion... may extend pay". This suggests compassion, which on some levels is great, but how is this discretion decided? 

Ten years ago, when I was pregnant with my son Niam, I worked at a small NGO that didn’t have a paid maternity leave policy. I took the initiative to research comparable organizations and recommended a minimum 6-12 week leave, which was the industry standard for comparably sized ngos at the time. In response, the VP told me, “We can give you two weeks because that’s all we can afford, and we’re going to call it ‘parental leave’ because it wouldn’t be ‘fair’ otherwise.” This moment has stayed with me, highlighting the difference between equality and equity. While it’s important for men to take time off to care for their children and support their partners, employers must go further in creating equitable policies that acknowledge the unique needs of both parents and allow them to take the necessary time off after the birth or adoption of a child. Equitable policies mean giving people what they need to succeed, not just offering the same blanket solution for everyone. By ensuring both parents have access to adequate paid leave, employers empower families to thrive and add to a more dedicated and happier workforce. While we’ve all come to rely on the ‘village’ it takes to raise children, let’s not make it grandma’s or grandpa’s problem. This is an economic issue, and we need economic solutions. Paid family leave and accessible child care are not just family issues—they are essential for a strong, functioning economy. I'm grateful for Reshma Saujani for advocating this through Moms First. And today, as I celebrate Niam’s golden 10th birthday, I’m in awe of how much he’s grown, and it reminds me why this fight for better policies matters so much—for him, and for all the children of the future. Let’s continue advocating for better policies that truly support working parents and create a more equitable workforce. #PaidFamilyLeave #ChildCare #WorkingParents #FamilyFirst #EquityMatters #EconomicSolutions #AdvocacyForChange #GoldenBirthday

A recent survey of 35,800 parents by Pregnant Then Screwed in collaboration with Women in Data® found: 👉 63% of fathers took two weeks or less paternity leave following the birth of their most recent child 👉 Only 29% of fathers were offered enhanced paternity pay 👉 48% of fathers who DID have access to enhanced paternity pay, were still only able to take two weeks or less of paternity leave 👉 Only 13% of fathers who took no more than two weeks of paternity leave felt emotionally ready to return to work The recent tweaks to paternity leave announced last week in the Spring budget are a "huge missed opportunity to invest in paternal caregiving for the benefit of the country's children, their mothers and the economy, as well as for dads themselves." Our campaign for six weeks' well-paid leave for new dads and partners continues - please support us by: 💚 Sharing the story of your experience of paternity or parental leave: https://lnkd.in/en8arMKb 💚 Making a donation if you can: https://lnkd.in/epbMA69c Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eA4qK7TZ Read the People Management magazine article, in which we're quoted, here: https://lnkd.in/eT5AsPKE

No one should have to “hoard” sick days to cobble together time for maternity leave. Time away to recover from giving birth and care for an infant shouldn’t depend on what job you have – it’s a necessity. It’s especially maddening to see teachers, who are responsible for raising and educating the country’s children, denied paid parental leave. This article from Ed Week features powerful personal stories – it’s a great read and a powerful reminder that we must do better by our educators. We’re seeing paid leave start to expand slowly but surely at the state level across the U.S. Policymakers must pass a federal paid leave policy, but I hope to see this trend pick up speed in the meantime. https://lnkd.in/eAZXepWv

Having returned to the office after five months of parental leave last week and having read the news about the decrease in the share of parental leave taken by fathers, I would like to share a few personal reflections before I get into work-related updates again. It was great to be able to focus 100 % on our family for a while instead of juggling competing professional demands. Personally, I think that my leave was even more important this time with our second daughter to strengthen a good family balance on an equal footing because before we swapped roles the easier way out for us as a family had often been that I focused on our older one while our little one was with my wife. I hope to have contributed to lay the foundations for a strong bond with our child once more that will last for life. I am convinced that I will always treasure the memory of this very intense and unique time with our young children in retrospect. Care work is tough, even more so with two children. My days as a father often lasted from 6 am to 9 or 10 pm without much of break. It deserves a lot of respect, but not more when dads are carrying it out. According to the latest data, only ca. 15 % of fathers take a part of the parental leave available to the family at all. 4 % of paid leave days are taken by dads. Only around 1 to 2 % of fathers stay home for 6 months or longer. While the picture may look a bit better in reality than these data suggest because some of fathers’ leave days are being taken after the paid period, the inequality is startling. Thus, the court of auditors asks amongst others for more dedicated leave days for each respective parent and a further expansion of childcare in quantitative and qualitative terms. It matters a lot to put a better incentives' structure in place. Both as advisor to the deputy prime minister working on policy responses to the energy crisis of 2022 as well as newly appointed in a leadership position this year, I took the parental leave in a very challenging professional environment. I thereby hope to contribute to highlighting that a demanding job or managerial role should not need to be a reason not to take leave as a father and to encourage others not to miss out on this opportunity to share familial responsibilities more evenly. This is not at all to judge other families as financial resources, job security and other factors are very unevenly distributed. This is rather to showcase that thanks to the great leaders and managers [e.g. Leonore Gewessler Georg Günsberg Irmi Salzer Schneider Jürgen Elfriede More) I have had the privilege to work with at Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKOES) and Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation & Technologie, it has been feasible to foster a work environment where it is common sense that mothers and fathers alike have to juggle professional demands with parental responsibilites. https://lnkd.in/ebfAqE4Q

🚨 Wait… She Said What? 🚨 Kemi Badenoch's recent remarks suggesting that maternity pay has "gone too far" are not only misguided—they're downright harmful! To ANYONE who thinks maternity pay is excessive? Let's set the record straight: Maternity Pay is a Lifeline!🤱 Statutory maternity pay is just 47% of the national minimum wage! This is far from excessive; it barely covers basic living expenses for hardworking mothers and their families. We're Contributors, Not Burdens!💪 To qualify for maternity pay, you must have been employed and contributing to the system. This narrative that it's a burden on others? It's simply untrue! Isn't that how taxes are supposed to work? Supporting Small Businesses….wait, what?🏢 Small businesses can recoup 103% of statutory maternity pay and apply for advanced funding. Meanwhile, larger businesses recover 92%. Many employers feel compelled to offer additional support….. Why? Because statutory maternity pay is so inadequate! Childcare Costs are Skyrocketing! 🍼 With rising childcare fees, raising a family is becoming an uphill battle. Badenoch's comments risk sending the dangerous message that families should struggle more when they should be supported! Instead of scaling back, let's lift up working mums and advocate for more robust policies that benefit everyone—families, businesses, and our economy! Did you know…. Research suggests that families struggling financially impact child development and overall community health. Supporting parents is an investment in our future. And … Nearly one in three mothers say they felt financially unprepared for maternity leave, highlighting the urgent need for better support. We're appalled by these comments and will not stop fighting for women's rights, fairness, and equality. 💥 It's time to invest in women (and their families), not cut them down! 💥 And breathe!!! Kind Regards, All the women everywhere P.S. Please comment only if you support this message. We've heard enough misguided commentary on maternity pay. Thank you!

How to drive up the usage of paternity leave? The law in Denmark shows that "earmarking" weeks of leave that can only be used by the dad is a huge driver. "The number of men taking parental leave has gone up by 44 percent in two years, since new rules were introduced 'earmarking' a number of weeks of the statutory leave to each parent. The rules mean a smaller proportion of parental leave can be transferred from the baby’s father to the mother." https://lnkd.in/dudQg7AR #PaternityLeave #ParentalLeave #Earmarking #DadsMatter #WorkLifeBalance #FamilySupport #GenderEquality #LeavePolicies #Denmark #MenInParenting #Fatherhood #ParentalRights #SupportDads #Childcare #WorkplaceInclusion #FamilyLeave

Having a full time professional career and having children...can working mothers really have it all or is it just a lovely idea?  I get free hours for my youngest as of next month for 30 hours (3 days a week in term time only).  Working full time is 5 days a week generally.  Fortunately I have parents on both sides that support us, but what if you don't?  Prior to my funded hours I paid for 2 days a week and had support from family the other 3 days regardless of if it was term time or not.  This cost me around 25% of my salary for just 2 days a week, so we're talking over 60% if I didn't have the family support.  When I was on maternity leave for the first year, I got statutory maternity pay for the majority of it so although I didnt need childcare at that time, I received a fraction of my salary anyway.  Three years and we finally get something and feel a benefit of the work I do as a family and thankfully the government are now introducing support from a younger age but realistically, how many mothers have just left the workplace because it is near to impossible to earn enough money to fund the cost of getting adequate care for your child?  Had I not had family support, I also would have left work.  A step in the right direction but absolutely still needs improvement to keep intelligent, hardworking women contributing to the much needed growth of our economy. https://lnkd.in/e-2iYxSt

I haven’t been active on here for a little while, and wanted to explain why. In November my wife and I were incredibly lucky to welcome our second daughter into the world. We decided to take Shared Parental Leave (SPL), whereby parents can share a mother’s 52 week maternity leave entitlement. I took 2.5 months off work with my wife from early November to support her recovery and care for our daughters, and another 5 weeks in July/August to take over parenting duties while my wife settled back into work. It was one of the best decisions we ever made, because we didn’t only share time off. We shared the sleepless nights, feeds and nappy changes, early mornings, and exhaustion. We shared getting the children out of the house so they didn’t tear the place (and us) apart, when all we wanted to do was sleep. We shared the grocery shopping, medical appointments, endless housework, and toilet training. In short, we shared the daily strain of managing a newborn baby and a two-year-old. We also shared the moment our daughters first met each other, the cautious, quiet celebration at the first full sleep through the night, and the first smile. We shared trips to the park, the zoo, and occasionally the pub. We shared the hilarious mess of first foods and weaning, and the girls’ first days in nursery and preschool. Work - my job - is great. But I wouldn’t trade a moment of the quality time I’ve had with my wife and daughters, at such a challenging but formative and joyful time, for anything. Providing proper leave for both parents after a birth or adoption has been shown to be better for mothers, better for children, better for dads/co-parents, to improve workforce retention/returns, and to reduce the gender pay gap. So I’m sad to learn that only 5% of fathers in the UK have utilised SPL. 1 in 3 dads apparently take no leave at all when a baby arrives, while 1 in 2 who do report struggling financially as a result. One thing most parents in the UK cannot share is pay. The UK’s statutory paternity pay is the worst in Europe - offering only two weeks’ pay at less than half the National Living Wage. I was lucky enough to be able to plan ahead and manage this. Other dads will not have that flexibility, will not have the opportunity to spend this time with their children, and will not be able to shoulder some of the emotional, care, financial and career burdens for their partners. This perpetuates the onus on mothers to take time away from work to provide childcare. There are some great initiatives in the UK, like The Dad Shift, The Fatherhood Institute, and Parenting Out Loud, working to change this. I hope other working dads and dads-to-be will join the calls for better paternity leave provision. https://lnkd.in/eQJgTMVb #parentingoutloud #workingdads #paternityleave #6weeksfordads

💡 New polling conducted by Working Families on behalf of the Families and Work Group, suggests that Britain's political parties need to offer a better deal for new dads - if they want to win the next General Election. 👉 92% said it’s important for fathers to take time off to look after their baby in its first year 👉 83% said the Government should do more to help families balance work and childcare in babies’ first year 👉 68% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate/party that promised to introduce better leave and entitlements for new parents We are one of the 18 organisations that make up the Families and Work Group. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eX6jfjuf Read an i news article (in which we're quoted) demonstrating the real-life impact of the broken system, here: https://lnkd.in/eNXbj8az For the full results of the poll, including results on paternity leave and pay specifically, read our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/eh5ZMZ4z #parenting #generalelection #uk #parentalleave #paternityleave #government #campaign #timewithdad #fatherhood #childcare #poll