“Not a luxury but a necessity”: why paternity leave is a feminist issue

man with baby

Credit: Getty

Careers


“Not a luxury but a necessity”: why paternity leave is a feminist issue

By Moya Crockett

2 years ago

4 min read

New research highlights how the pitiful lack of paternity leave is affecting gender equality and the wider economy in the UK. 


When Ruth Chipperfield’s son was born in 2021, her husband was one of many UK men to only get two weeks’ paternity leave. The couple decided he would also take a fortnight’s annual leave from his job, bringing his total time off work to one month.

“I would have really struggled if [his paternity leave] had only been two weeks,” says Chipperfield, a 33-year-old jewellery designer from Birmingham. “I’ve got narcolepsy and came off all my medication during pregnancy, so I was extremely poorly.” That month, when her husband wasn’t working, was “essential” in helping Chipperfield through the immediate postpartum period, she continues: “I didn’t even change a single nappy in the first three weeks.”

While Chipperfield’s husband was able to scrabble together a month off to spend time with their family, not all new fathers are so lucky – if you can call it that. The UK’s two-week paternity leave entitlement, available to men and secondary parents of other genders, is currently the least generous in Europe. Statutory paternity pay works out to a miserable £172 a week, equivalent to less than £25 a day and just 44% of the national living wage. (Chipperfield says her husband worked overtime as a graphic designer in the run-up to their son’s birth, trying to make up for the financial penalty he’d suffer as a result of taking paternity leave.)

It goes without saying that two weeks is no time at all, especially if a birthing parent has experienced complications during labour; some families have only just made it home from the hospital 14 days after a baby is born. But even that meagre fortnight isn’t available to everyone. According to new survey data from the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, one in five (20%) recent dads in the UK had no parental leave options at all after their child arrived. Meanwhile, 43% of those that were entitled to some leave, but returned to work early, cited financial hardship as the reason for not taking their full entitlement. And fewer than one in five (18%) prospective parents say they or their partner could afford to take six weeks of paternity leave at the current statutory rate of pay. 

“While long-held societal norms about gendered parenting roles are shifting, the UK’s parental leave system has not kept pace,” says Rosie Fogden, head of research and analysis at The Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP), which collaborated with Pregnant Then Screwed on this research. “It is still very difficult for many fathers and second parents to be able to afford to take leave when their children are born.”

We want to be sure all political parties understand the importance of paternity leave

This isn’t an issue that only affects men. For almost every dad forced to go back to work after just a couple of weeks, there’s a partner – usually a woman – left literally holding the baby. This inevitably impacts families on an individual level: 63% of recent fathers surveyed by Pregnant Then Screwed said they did not feel “mentally ready” to return to work when they did, while 83% of mothers with young children thought increasing paid paternity leave would have a positive impact on mothers’ mental health. But it has a ripple effect across society, too, reinforcing the idea that women should be primarily responsible for caregiving while men prioritise their careers. Shared parental leave was introduced in 2015 in part to redress this imbalance, but pick-up has been slow; Pregnant Then Screwed survey data suggests only a tiny minority of new parents are making use of the scheme. 

“If the UK wants to reduce the gender pay gap and stem the growing demand for mental health services, government policy must send a strong signal about the importance of both parents’ role in providing childcare from the very beginning of a child’s life,” says Fogden. Analysis by the CPP suggests that when countries offer paid paternity leave entitlement of at least six weeks, it can benefit both gender equality and the wider economy – shrinking the gender wage gap and increasing the proportion of women in the workforce. 

Pregnant Then Screwed is now calling on the government to increase the length of non-transferable paternity leave to a minimum of six weeks – ensuring it is available to “all working dads and partners” and paid at 90% of income, to put it in line with current statutory maternity pay. It also wants the government to boost existing maternity rights to reduce financial hardship, the gender employment gap and the gender pay gap.

“With a general election due to take place within the next 18 months, we want to be sure all political parties understand the importance of paternity leave to parents, children and the economy,” said Joeli Brearly, the founder of Pregnant Then Screwed.

“Paternity leave is not a luxury but a necessity.”

Images: Getty 

Sign up for the latest news and must-read features from Stylist, so you don’t miss out on the conversation.

By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy

Thank you!

You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.