Don’t Forget Dads: Should Fathers Get Paternity Leave
The transition to parenthood is a complex process marked by stressful personal and family changes requiring crucial adjustments. Long term stress exposure negatively affects the health of individuals and can affect parental decision making, especially at the newborn stage. Research has shown, for example, that increased stress may negatively affect patience, behavioral responses to crying, problem solving, and child-rearing behaviors — all of which are important for new parents. It is important to ask then, do parental leave options have beneficial effects on parental stress, the family unit, and infant health? And most interestingly, are the effects for maternal and paternal leave comparable? This is should fathers get paternity leave essay in which the topic is deeply discussed.
Parental leave is time away from work that parents are given to look after their children, whereas maternity and paternity leave are specific for mothers and fathers, respectively. Canada’s new parental leave policies, introduced by the Liberal Party, allow new parents to take up to 40 weeks of leave shared whichever way families decide. Although the policies allow fathers to take the same time off as mothers, the benefits provided are not equal. Canadian policymakers should author laws that shift the father’s role to co-parenting as opposed to a manager-helper dynamic. Egalitarian paid leave availability would enable the development of a more gender-equitable division of labor, empower women in the Canadian workforce, reduce negative gender stereotypes, and yield positive health effects on the family.
Although paid leave is often considered an issue that primarily affects working women, it is increasingly important for Canadian policymakers to focus on fathers as well. In fact, recent research suggests that dyadic couples show linkage in their momentary affect and stress physiology. Saxbe and Repetti used a dyadic multilevel modeling approach to explore the coregulation of spouses’ mood states and cortisol levels in 30 married couples. It was found that for both husbands and wives, each person’s cortisol level and negative mood rating was positively associated with their partner’s cortisol and mood level, even after controlling for sampling time and environment. Their results suggest that, over extended periods of time, spouses’ variation in stress are linked. Thus, Canadian paid leave policies that reduce stress in partners would have a positive effect on spousal wellbeing. A separate study by Saxbe, Repetti, and Graesch examined the importance of spouses' balancing of housework and leisure activities at home. This is especially relevant when welcoming a new family member, such a newborn infant, to the household. The researchers tracked 30 dual-earner couples around their homes by recording their locations and activities every 10 min. Results suggest that the division of labor within couples may have implications for physical health. The difference within the division of labor among couples appeared to have implications for partners’ physiological stress and recovery from work, even after marital satisfaction and adjustment was controlled. These studies, taken together, suggest that events surrounding the transition to parenthood and the availability of leave have effects on both mothers and fathers, particularly with regard to stress and health.
Providing Canadian fathers with paid leave would have a positive impact on Canadian women’s role in the workforce. A significant body of research from North America and Europe suggests multiple benefits of providing fathers with paid leave. Mareike Bünning, a German psychologist and researcher, studied the German parental leave reform of 2007. The reform created an incentive for men to take paternity leave by introducing two months of well-compensated leave exclusively reserved for fathers. After analyzing the effects of the new policy and controlling for confounds, Bünning’s study demonstrated that fathers who took up to two months (< 2 months) of leave increased their involvement in childcare. Additionally, fathers who took longer leaves (> 2 months), or leaves on their own, led to more gender equality in couples’ division of labor. Policies like the one implemented in Germany have the potential to improve the position of women in the labor force, provide health and psychological benefits to parents and children, strengthen families, and benefit organizations in the long run. In another study, Rehel assessed the specific role played by extended time off for fathers immediately after the birth of a child among 85 couples. The results indicated that, by drawing fathers into the daily responsibilities of child care, extended paternity leave enables fathers to develop the parenting skills and sense of responsibility that empowers them to be active co-parents, rather than mere helpers. This dynamic shift creates the opportunity for policies to enable the development of a more gender-equitable division of labor in Canada.
Paternal leave can also help remedy the economic disparity which often appears between mothers and fathers. In a study that reached beyond the scope of North America, Ray and colleagues analyzed the structure of parental leave policies operating in 21 high-income countries. The study found that only four nations have leave policies that are both generous and gender egalitarian: Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Greece. Norway is a particularly notable example of gender parity. In 1993, a special paternity quota of one month was introduced to the country’s parental leave program. Since then, analyses show that gender balance among Norwegian families has increased: parents report an 11% lower level of conflicts over household division of labor and they also report that they are 50% more likely to equally divide the task of washing clothes. Additionally, when mothers contribute more to the family economy and earn equalized wages, more fathers are likely to take paternity leave. As paternal leave-taking continues to grow in Norway, the job market is viewing mothers and fathers more equally. In fact, Norway has the second highest ratio of female-to-male earned income, closing the gap on what has been coined the “motherhood penalty”. While Canadian fathers are offered paternity leave, the benefits are not well compensated compared to the example provided by Norway and Germany. Thus, by providing additional incentives for fathers to take paid time off, Canadian women would have a greater ability to contribute economically.
Policies that do not inherently assume mothers should stay home with the children would also improve gender stereotypes and encourage more equitable gender norms. Paternal leave has positive effects on fathers’ involvement in childcare and therefore decreases the gendered division of childcare work with respect to how parents interact with the child and how the child rearing labor is divided. Haas and Hwang analyzed Sweden’s parental leave policies, with a focus on father’s leave availability and its effect on the family. In 2006, Sweden adjusted the government-mandated paid parental leave so that each parent had two non-transferable leave months and nine additional months to share. Because of the nature of the changes, Haas and Hwang analyzed survey data from 356 Swedish fathers working in large private companies. They found that the amount of paternity leave days taken had positive effects on several aspects of fathers’ participation in childcare. Additionally, they found that the policy adjustments influenced the fathers’ satisfaction with children interactions, controlling for other factors contributing to fathers’ participation in childcare. These findings are applicable to Canada because Haas and Hwang’s findings suggest that Sweden's goal of de-gendering the division of labor for childcare was not met until fathers were strongly encouraged by social policy to take a more equal portion of parental leave. Canadian policymakers should author legislation similar to that of Sweden to encourage a more equitable division of labor. These efforts would improve gender stereotypes constructed by older generations and encourage gender equity in childcare.
Paternal involvement with the child is also critically important for the child’s development and health. Research has found that paternal involvement during infant care can be a predictor of healthy infant neurodevelopment and other positive health factors, such as cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. Additionally, leave policies may influence fathers’ behaviors when children are young. A recent study found that children with highly involved fathers tend to perform better in terms of cognitive test scores. Fathers can make unique, significant contributions to children’s risk and well-being in the early years of development. These studies show the positive effects paternity leave has on infant development, and Canadian policymakers should recognize the robustness of these findings. By providing equal parental leave availability between mothers and fathers, in both time available and benefits, fathers may further develop their child rearing behaviors which in turn would have a positive effect on child development.
Future research efforts are needed to develop effective strategies for improving paid leave policies in Canada. The current increasing demand for employer benefits in the Canadian workforce will require the implementation of policies that have not yet been adequately investigated. Alternatively, paid leave policies could be modified or otherwise flexibly implemented in an attempt to meet the needs of new parents – mothers and fathers alike. Although the scale of the current situation poses challenges to both policymakers and organizations, it also presents unprecedented opportunities for research and the continued development of evidence-based interventions to offset heightened levels of stress and depression in new parents. More specifically, when comparing Canadian culture with other countries’ cultures, future studies should probe whether fathers in Canada are satisfied with paternity leave availability. Do they want more time home? This could potentially answer an important question surrounding paternity leave satisfaction and, ultimately, its utilization. New, more progressive, leave policies could mitigate the stressful transition to parenthood, reduce gender stereotypes, and support women’s involvement in the economy.
