Saved by Todd Carter
What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
There seems to be snowballing evidence that providing flexibility at workplaces, having access to paid leave, helps everybody, and it helps women, perhaps more than anybody else.
Not only in providing them what they need, but in providing opportunities for men to do more at home, for men to be more engaged.
Not only in providing them what they need, but in providing opportunities for men to do more at home, for men to be more engaged.
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Providing paternity leave helps dads get involved and mothers getting the support they need from their partners
So the sort of norm of the father as provider directly maps onto this ideal worker norm of always being available to work and prioritizing work, which privileges men.
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Ideal father and ideal worker ideas are coupled and privilege men in the workplace
And then there’s the traditional sort of aspect of fatherhood. You know, if we think about what makes a good father, the norm of breadwinning, of being the main financial provider, is still very prevalent in our conceptions of fatherhood. Now, we’ve progressed a bit. In the past, we viewed fathers only as financial providers, and I don’t think... See more
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Deeply ingrained ideas around ideal workers and ideal fathers: fathers = breadwinner. Fathers are involved in care but not at the expense of breadwinning.
It depends heavily on the organization, and organizational support. And there’s a lot to do with perceptions of penalties. Fathers perceive that they’re going to be penalized in some way, shape, or form for taking leave. Workplace barriers to taking leave, and especially extended periods of leave, are still a real concern and still present a... See more
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Organisations can do more to help remove barriers for dads taking paternity leave
Even, simply, the sacrifice — I think that’s a fair word in our society, the sacrifice that taking time off of work, given that it’s not widely accepted and that there are penalties associated with it — demonstrates that “Hey, I’m gonna value my family. It’s not all about work.” Even just that act matters.
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
I think this process starts at birth — fathers aren’t around, then mothers learn how to do everything right. It’s not like mothers know how to do everything. We sort of assuming as a society that mothers have this innate ability to do all the child care. The reality is, no one knows what they’re doing when you bring a child home and you gotta... See more
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Narrative point about society expectations that mothers know how to do everything and fathers don’t when in reality mothers figure it out and dads could too if only they had enough paternity leave
The other thing that happens when fathers are home is it provides an opportunity for parents to learn how to do things together. The Better Life Lab released a report on men who do care and one of their findings was that not knowing how to provide care was one of the biggest barriers to fathers being more involved.
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Extended paternity leave supports both parents learning how to parent together
“Taking leave is not normative,” says Richard Petts, a sociologist who specializes in research on parental leave, when explaining the paternity leave statistics that show how few men actually take more than a week of paid leave. He saw why first-hand when he struggled to get time off after the birth of his own child and cobbled together some sick... See more
Lizzy Francis • What Happens When Dads Take Paternity Leave — And When They Don't
Even with access to some paid leave - Dads struggle against norms around taking paternity leave at all