Paternity Leave
Should Men Take Paternity Leave from Work
Katrina Baron
ENG/102
Vicki Lynn Samson
Everyone knows that expecting mothers take maternity leave from work when their child is born. With that being said according the Family Medical Leave Act excepting fathers are allowed paternity leave from work. In order to better support the mother of their child along with personally care for their child, a father should be allowed a paternity leave. Many employers do offer paternity leave but some offer it as unpaid leave. Men have not been taking advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act, particularly for paternity leave. “President William Clinton signed the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993” (Halverson, 2003). Once the Family Medical …show more content…
Leave Act was signed the FMLA gives employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave in one year to care for a newborn child. It also states that the employer must allow employees who take the leave to return to work in the same position they had. There are five major obstacles that account for low levels of male reliance on the Family Medical Leave Act. According to Halverson, 2003, the five obstacles are social stigma, financial inability, employee knowledge, employer reaction, and the stated purpose of the FMLA does not emphasize paternity leave. Social stigma has to deal with society seeing men has the bread winners of the household and women as the caregivers. The social stigma has decreased over the years because the roles of caregiver and breadwinner has switched. There are many men that decide to be stay-at-home fathers. There are many men who turn out to be single fathers. With the social stigma there are still many of expecting fathers that have nothing to do with the raising of their child. They are the ones that go along with the social stigma and feel that the women should take care of the child while they make the money to support the family. Financial inability is an obstacle because the FMLA provides twelve weeks of unpaid leave. Financial inability can be solved with the splitting of maternity and paternity leave, so there is no burden of not being able to support the family. Financial inability is the biggest reason men do not take paternity leave. Which does also go along with social stigma with men being the breadwinners and women being the caretakers. Employee knowledge, men have not been aware that the Family Medical Leave Act pertains to them as well. Most men do not even know that the Family Medical Leave Act offers paternity leave so they do not know to ask their employers about it. The employer reaction means that with the Family Medical Leave Act with men taking paternity leave would be a burden on the employer. The employers feel that they need the employee there, they do not want to have to find someone to replace them while the employee is out on leave. That is one of the reason there are not many employers that offer paternity leave as paid leave. The employers believe that the employee will not take that many days off after their child is born because it is unpaid time off. The stated purpose of the FMLA does not emphasize paternity leave is that the FMLA does not lend itself to paternity leave. Why are men afraid to use paternity leave? Three quarters of men who do not receive paternity leave do take off for a week or less once their child is born. Around sixteen percent of men cannot take any days off from work (Hall, 2013). Out of all the employers that do offer paternity leave only 13% of them offer paid paternity leave. Four out of ten men will not even take advantage of the paternity leave rights. The men that will not take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act for paternity is because they are afraid of losing their jobs or believe that they would not be able to take the time off that they need or want (Hall, 2013). According to Hall, 2013 many men have explained that they cannot afford to take time off. Which can be the biggest reason men will not take the leave from work. Even with men being able to take the leave from work, few actually do. This does not mean that dads care more about their jobs than their children (Abel, n.d.). 50 percent of workers cannot afford to take the amount of unpaid time off from work. The other 50 percent of employees are not even covered under these laws (Abel, n.d.). Leave from work after their newborn child is born always has been a norm for women (Weber, 2013). Men have recently came into the picture of taking leave from work when the housewife and breadwinner roles shifted. According to Weber, 2013, “approximately 85% of new father take some time off after the birth of a child, but of those, the majority take a week or two, according to a 2011 study of workers at four Fortune 500 companies by the Boston College Center for Work and Family.” Many employers feel that active fathers are seen as distracted and less dedicated to their work (Weber, 2013). Which gives the employers a reason to fire or lay him off. With many employers giving paternity leave as unpaid leave many expecting fathers will not take the leave. Expecting fathers will use up any vacation time they have to be with their newborn child and the mother of their child than it is back to work. Is paternity leave a good idea?
It is a good idea to give the expecting parents more choices concerning taking care of their newborn. With men being able to take paternity leave from work the new parents would be able to have choices over how they will divide paid work and childcare. New dads can take up to six months paternity leave to look after their newborn child (Phil, 2007). Which would mean that a woman would be able to give up six months of her yearlong maternity leave and pass it on to her partner (Phil, 2007). The father’s role is just as important as the mother’s role. Splitting up the leaves between the parents is one way to mitigate the damage. Splitting up the leave will also help the social stigma and change the way people think about paternity leave. Many mothers are not only the caretakers in the family, many of them make more than the fathers. Many couples do not want someone else watching and caring for their child for about the first year of their child’s life (Melvin, 1983). According to Gheaus, Robeyns, 2010, both employed mothers and fathers should be granted six months of paid leave from work. Each parent should take the leave at different time so that the damage of bills and not having money would be taken care of. The mother of course should take the first six months of so she can heal and everything. Especially if she plans on breast feeding her child. Once she returns to work the father should take the next six months off from work. The new …show more content…
father does not want to miss out on the important first year of their child’s life and needs the time to bond with their newborn child as well. By splitting up the leave it would reduce the burden of not having money to support their family. “A 2007 study from researchers at Columbia University found that fathers who take longer leaves tend to be more involved in child care months after returning to work (Weber, 2013).” As you talk to many fathers you will hear them say they wish they took the time off. Not just because they want to be able to bond with their child but because it can be really hard to trust everyone with your child. One father stated that if he was able to take a leave from work, he would have been able to be involved in every moment he missed. Not that but everything that happened with the child from the mother and childcare providers would have never happened. There are many employers that do offer up to a month of paid time off for fathers when their child is born. With that many men feel that they are letting their team down if they take the whole month off. Giving the expecting parents the choice to split the leave up from work will give them more options when their child is born. They would not have to worry about money or who is going to take care of their child if they both have to go to work. This option would give both parents the time they need to bond with their child. It would also make the burden of not being able to support the family disappear or be less than what it would be if both parents were out of work at the same time. With the five major obstacles that account for low levels of male reliance on the Family Medical Leave Act, more excepting fathers should want to step up and change them.
Expecting fathers should be willing to talk to their employer to find out if they offer paternity leave or not. They have to right to take paternity leave from work and should make sure that their employer will be willing to offer it to them. Not just that they can talk to their partner about taking a paternity leave from work after they have returned to work. Expecting fathers should not have to miss out on too much of the first year of their child growing up.
References
Abel, K. (n.d.). Dads and Paternity Leave. Retrieved from http://life.familyeducation.com/working-parents/fathers-day/36483.html
Cooper, M. (2013). Paternity Leave Pros and Cons: It Could Cost You Your Job. Retrieved from http://www.policymic.com/articles/20565/paternity-leave-pros-and-cons-it-could-cost-you-your-job
Gheaus, A. (2010). Equality promoting paternal leave. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/351766/Equality Promoting Paternal Leave
Hall, J. (2013). Why Are Men Afraid to Use Paternity Leave? Retrieved from
http://www.learnvest.com/2013/06/why-are-men-afraid-to-use-paternity-leave/
Halverson, C. (2003). From here to Paternity: why men are not taking paternity leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal, 18(2), 257-279.
Melvin, T. (1983, Oct 23). Ruling Awaited On Paternity Leave. The New York Time. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/424793654?accountsid=35812
Phil, D. I. (2007, Jun 03). Father time moves closer; under proposed new reforms new dads could get up to six months ' paternity leave. Sunday Sun. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/350283624?accountid=35812
Weber, L. (2013). Why Dads Don 't Take Paternity Leave. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324049504578541633708283670.html
Katrina Baron
ENG/102
Vicki Lynn Samson
Everyone knows that expecting mothers take maternity leave from work when their child is born. With that being said according the Family Medical Leave Act excepting fathers are allowed paternity leave from work. In order to better support the mother of their child along with personally care for their child, a father should be allowed a paternity leave. Many employers do offer paternity leave but some offer it as unpaid leave. Men have not been taking advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act, particularly for paternity leave. “President William Clinton signed the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993” (Halverson, 2003). Once the Family Medical …show more content…
Leave Act was signed the FMLA gives employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave in one year to care for a newborn child. It also states that the employer must allow employees who take the leave to return to work in the same position they had. There are five major obstacles that account for low levels of male reliance on the Family Medical Leave Act. According to Halverson, 2003, the five obstacles are social stigma, financial inability, employee knowledge, employer reaction, and the stated purpose of the FMLA does not emphasize paternity leave. Social stigma has to deal with society seeing men has the bread winners of the household and women as the caregivers. The social stigma has decreased over the years because the roles of caregiver and breadwinner has switched. There are many men that decide to be stay-at-home fathers. There are many men who turn out to be single fathers. With the social stigma there are still many of expecting fathers that have nothing to do with the raising of their child. They are the ones that go along with the social stigma and feel that the women should take care of the child while they make the money to support the family. Financial inability is an obstacle because the FMLA provides twelve weeks of unpaid leave. Financial inability can be solved with the splitting of maternity and paternity leave, so there is no burden of not being able to support the family. Financial inability is the biggest reason men do not take paternity leave. Which does also go along with social stigma with men being the breadwinners and women being the caretakers. Employee knowledge, men have not been aware that the Family Medical Leave Act pertains to them as well. Most men do not even know that the Family Medical Leave Act offers paternity leave so they do not know to ask their employers about it. The employer reaction means that with the Family Medical Leave Act with men taking paternity leave would be a burden on the employer. The employers feel that they need the employee there, they do not want to have to find someone to replace them while the employee is out on leave. That is one of the reason there are not many employers that offer paternity leave as paid leave. The employers believe that the employee will not take that many days off after their child is born because it is unpaid time off. The stated purpose of the FMLA does not emphasize paternity leave is that the FMLA does not lend itself to paternity leave. Why are men afraid to use paternity leave? Three quarters of men who do not receive paternity leave do take off for a week or less once their child is born. Around sixteen percent of men cannot take any days off from work (Hall, 2013). Out of all the employers that do offer paternity leave only 13% of them offer paid paternity leave. Four out of ten men will not even take advantage of the paternity leave rights. The men that will not take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act for paternity is because they are afraid of losing their jobs or believe that they would not be able to take the time off that they need or want (Hall, 2013). According to Hall, 2013 many men have explained that they cannot afford to take time off. Which can be the biggest reason men will not take the leave from work. Even with men being able to take the leave from work, few actually do. This does not mean that dads care more about their jobs than their children (Abel, n.d.). 50 percent of workers cannot afford to take the amount of unpaid time off from work. The other 50 percent of employees are not even covered under these laws (Abel, n.d.). Leave from work after their newborn child is born always has been a norm for women (Weber, 2013). Men have recently came into the picture of taking leave from work when the housewife and breadwinner roles shifted. According to Weber, 2013, “approximately 85% of new father take some time off after the birth of a child, but of those, the majority take a week or two, according to a 2011 study of workers at four Fortune 500 companies by the Boston College Center for Work and Family.” Many employers feel that active fathers are seen as distracted and less dedicated to their work (Weber, 2013). Which gives the employers a reason to fire or lay him off. With many employers giving paternity leave as unpaid leave many expecting fathers will not take the leave. Expecting fathers will use up any vacation time they have to be with their newborn child and the mother of their child than it is back to work. Is paternity leave a good idea?
It is a good idea to give the expecting parents more choices concerning taking care of their newborn. With men being able to take paternity leave from work the new parents would be able to have choices over how they will divide paid work and childcare. New dads can take up to six months paternity leave to look after their newborn child (Phil, 2007). Which would mean that a woman would be able to give up six months of her yearlong maternity leave and pass it on to her partner (Phil, 2007). The father’s role is just as important as the mother’s role. Splitting up the leaves between the parents is one way to mitigate the damage. Splitting up the leave will also help the social stigma and change the way people think about paternity leave. Many mothers are not only the caretakers in the family, many of them make more than the fathers. Many couples do not want someone else watching and caring for their child for about the first year of their child’s life (Melvin, 1983). According to Gheaus, Robeyns, 2010, both employed mothers and fathers should be granted six months of paid leave from work. Each parent should take the leave at different time so that the damage of bills and not having money would be taken care of. The mother of course should take the first six months of so she can heal and everything. Especially if she plans on breast feeding her child. Once she returns to work the father should take the next six months off from work. The new …show more content…
father does not want to miss out on the important first year of their child’s life and needs the time to bond with their newborn child as well. By splitting up the leave it would reduce the burden of not having money to support their family. “A 2007 study from researchers at Columbia University found that fathers who take longer leaves tend to be more involved in child care months after returning to work (Weber, 2013).” As you talk to many fathers you will hear them say they wish they took the time off. Not just because they want to be able to bond with their child but because it can be really hard to trust everyone with your child. One father stated that if he was able to take a leave from work, he would have been able to be involved in every moment he missed. Not that but everything that happened with the child from the mother and childcare providers would have never happened. There are many employers that do offer up to a month of paid time off for fathers when their child is born. With that many men feel that they are letting their team down if they take the whole month off. Giving the expecting parents the choice to split the leave up from work will give them more options when their child is born. They would not have to worry about money or who is going to take care of their child if they both have to go to work. This option would give both parents the time they need to bond with their child. It would also make the burden of not being able to support the family disappear or be less than what it would be if both parents were out of work at the same time. With the five major obstacles that account for low levels of male reliance on the Family Medical Leave Act, more excepting fathers should want to step up and change them.
Expecting fathers should be willing to talk to their employer to find out if they offer paternity leave or not. They have to right to take paternity leave from work and should make sure that their employer will be willing to offer it to them. Not just that they can talk to their partner about taking a paternity leave from work after they have returned to work. Expecting fathers should not have to miss out on too much of the first year of their child growing up.
References
Abel, K. (n.d.). Dads and Paternity Leave. Retrieved from http://life.familyeducation.com/working-parents/fathers-day/36483.html
Cooper, M. (2013). Paternity Leave Pros and Cons: It Could Cost You Your Job. Retrieved from http://www.policymic.com/articles/20565/paternity-leave-pros-and-cons-it-could-cost-you-your-job
Gheaus, A. (2010). Equality promoting paternal leave. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/351766/Equality Promoting Paternal Leave
Hall, J. (2013). Why Are Men Afraid to Use Paternity Leave? Retrieved from
http://www.learnvest.com/2013/06/why-are-men-afraid-to-use-paternity-leave/
Halverson, C. (2003). From here to Paternity: why men are not taking paternity leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal, 18(2), 257-279.
Melvin, T. (1983, Oct 23). Ruling Awaited On Paternity Leave. The New York Time. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/424793654?accountsid=35812
Phil, D. I. (2007, Jun 03). Father time moves closer; under proposed new reforms new dads could get up to six months ' paternity leave. Sunday Sun. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/350283624?accountid=35812
Weber, L. (2013). Why Dads Don 't Take Paternity Leave. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324049504578541633708283670.html