In the corporate world, one's efficiency is measured by the amount of output, a labour whether skilled or unskilled produces. Very little goes into considering the means through which the end is achieved. Generally, leaves in the corporate are considered to be a contentious point especially those around childbirth like paternity, maternity and miscarriage leaves. Companies view motherhood and fatherhood as mutually exclusive activities when it comes to employment. As these leaves require long absence and reduce the effective employed workforce, companies usually have shorter leaves in their policies forcing the employee to either quit or seek unpaid leaves. Thus, employees who take these leaves form a crucial talent pool and retaining this talent is imperative for companies to strengthen their pipeline of leaders.
Paternity leave is generally a short period of leave for the father immediately following childbirth. It aims to enable fathers to assist the mother to recover from childbirth, which is also crucial in establishing breastfeeding, take care of the newborn as well as other children, attend to the registration of the birth and other family-related responsibilities. Paternity leave is either provided as a separate leave measure for fathers or included in the "special leave" provisions to which all employees are entitled.
In 2014, the International Labour Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories and found that all countries except Papua New Guinea have laws mandating some form of parental leave. A different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96% offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 44% of those countries offered the same for fathers. Paternity leave increases income at the household level as well by supporting dually-earning families. When fathers are drawn into the daily realities of childcare, free of workplace constraints, the extended time off (immediately after the birth) provides the space necessary for fathers to develop the parenting skills and sense of responsibility that then allows them to be active co-parents rather than helpers to their female partners. Fathers perceive that, while family-friendly policies might, in theory, be available to "parents", socialization, lack of uptake by other men and the absence of a supportive workplace result in these options being used only by women Therefore the design and mix of work-family policies, and in particular leave measures, have enormous gender-transformative potential when they achieve effective gender equality at work and in the household an explicit objective.
Among the earliest countries to actively push for increased usage of paternity leave are the Nordic welfare states, starting with Sweden making parental leave gender-neutral in 1974 and soon followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The length of paternity leave varies from country to country, the duration ranges from one day in Tunisia to 90 days in Iceland, Slovenia and Finland (54 working days). In India, the Central Government in 1999 by notification under Central Civil Services (Leave) Rule 551 (A) made provisions for paternity leave for a male Central Government employee (including an apprentice and probationer) with less than two surviving children for a period of 15 days to take care of his wife and a newborn child. He can avail of this leave 15 days before or within 6 months from the date of delivery of a child. While paternity leave is sanctioned for government employees, there isn't any such law that indoctrinates the private sector to make it obligatory. Hence, paternity leave is open to interpretation by individual companies.
While the birth of a child brings joy to the entire family, and bring with it celebrations and happiness, the loss of a child, whether by way of a miscarriage or still-birth is often something that the parents, and more importantly, the mother, tends to internalise. Under miscarriage laws, mothers and their partners have the right to paid leave following a miscarriage or stillbirth. Only two countries India and New Zealand have laws around miscarriages. These leave provisions apply to mothers, their partners as well as parents planning to have a child through adoption or surrogacy.
New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation giving mothers and their partners the right to paid leave following a miscarriage or stillbirth, becoming only the second country in the world to do so. The bereavement allowance gives employees three days leave when a pregnancy ends with a stillbirth without having to tap into sick leave. Labour Party MP Ginny Andersen while initiating the bill said, The bill will give women and their partners time to come to terms with their loss without having to tap into sick leave. Because their grief is not a sickness, it is a loss. And loss takes time." In India, the miscarriage leaves, extends to six weeks of paid leave under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 1961. The law states, "In case of miscarriage, a woman shall, on the production of such proof as may be prescribed, be entitled to leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit for a period of six weeks immediately following the day of her miscarriage." When compared to other countries like Britain, the parents-to-be who experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks are eligible for paid leave, in Australia, women who miscarry are entitled to unpaid leave, if they lose a foetus after 12 weeks. In the United States, on the other hand, the employer is not required to provide leave for anyone who suffers a miscarriage.
The harsh realities of the world paint a different picture where pregnancy-related discrimination is more common than other workplace discriminations. In Kenya, women are made to sign no pregnancy agreements where they are not allowed to conceive during their employment. In the USA, 43% of highly qualified women with children leave their jobs. According to a US study, only 74 per cent of the women who took time off work and wanted to rejoin were able to do so and only 40 per cent were able to return to full-time work. In Korea, mothers who want to re-enter the workforce found it difficult to do so due to a lack of suitable opportunities or inadequate pay and benefits. Studies show that fatherhood is rewarded by companies by paying higher wages to men with children. However, researchers are also discovering that when men take time off work for childcare, they are penalized in the form of lower hourly pay or demotions. To counter these, companies need to re-imagine their policies by offering adequate and long parental leaves, by ensuring employment protection and non-discrimination, health protection at the workplace, developing re-entry programmes, supporting flexible working arrangement and childcare and providing maternity and paternity coaching.
Piece by-
Fuhaar Bandhu
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