Paid paternity leave for fathers

[metagirl]

I'm a young married, not yet with kids but wonder what everyone thinks about the government's newest proposal to extend paid paternity leave to fathers so that they can take up to 3 months off?

i think its good that they are encouraging fathers to take more responsibility for parenting but what about people who don't have kids - because they can't or won't? Is this unfair to them? and what if businesses start limiting benefits or change hiring practices to accomodate this change? is this the beginning of "father discrimination" - ?  

[WendyS]

Like many of the legislation changes introduced, these things sound fine in theory but there's always a counter argument.  How many fathers could afford to take that amount of time off and still feel confident their career prospects hadn't been damaged?    And very small or young  companies with only a few employees simply can't afford to lose the services of one employee without risking the efficiency of the business.  I suspect that in the longer term there will be a backlash to the measures, both from other employees who have to work harder to cover for the absent employee, and from employers who will start to avoid employing anybody of child bearing age, but especially women,  and instead employ much older people whose child rearing capacity has come to an end.

[quizzywig]

I agree with WendyS but I'm of the generation that believes that either of the parents should be at home til the child starts to school or nursery at 4. What's the point of having kids if earning money is more important. Cut the cloth according to the needs and raise and love your kids yourselves. The rewards are unequalled!

[clairelb]

I think it�s an excellent idea.  I am almost 4 mths pregnant and my husband is planning to reduce his hours to 4 days a week to spend as much time as possible with our child.  It�s important to both of us that our child is given quality time from both of us.

 

I hope it never happens to be the case that men worry about their careers by taking 3 months off � if women are protected in such things, then men should be too.  I think this also applies to smaller companies.  They complain about not being able to afford to lose a member of male staff � do they apply the same ethos to their female staff (or do they not employ female staff for fear of them becoming pregnant)?   It just appears to me that the arguments against this new legislation places more importance on the man�s role in business � ie can�t afford to lose a man, can�t replace him, - than the woman�s and this in itself is discriminatory.  I sincerely hope the new legislation will protect men and women from discriminatory actions of employers.

[woofgang]

meta girl, why are you posting twice?

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question155020.html

[pamnez]

I think new parents of today are very lucky.  When I had my eldest son (1966), there was no such thing as maternity leave.  We had to give our jobs up.  There was no family allowance for our first born and no help from the government at all even though there was only one wage coming in.  I am not being a sourpuss, Just thinking back and feeling envious.