Member

In anticipation of the argument that dads can benefit from shared parental leave, I want to outline why it does not work as a policy or law. Five per cent of dads take shared parental leave. That is because it is a bit of a gimmick. First, the second partner—most often the father of the child—is more likely to take a smaller share of the shared parental leave, which is often less than six weeks and therefore would not qualify for additional redundancy protections. Secondly, and further to that argument, shared parental leave is itself a policy that is tough on mothers. Mothers who want to go back to work should be able to do so, and if they want to go back early and not use their full maternity rights, we obviously support that. My views are not in conflict with the rights of mothers, but are in addition to and in support of them.