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> In the long run, it's very important to switch away from a system of maternity leave to equal parental leave. Women of child-bearing age are routinely discrim

> In the long run, it's very important to switch away from a system of maternity leave to equal parental leave. Women of child-bearing age are routinely discriminated against because companies know that they might quit/focus on the children/work less hours/have long maternal leave etc. By having equal paternal leave, and making sure that men take as much as women, this discrimination will disappear. You aren't going to be able to force a father to take time off, just because you think he should. Even if he takes a week or two, the vast majority of them will go back to work in short order. I would argue it is pretty much impossible to get men to take as much leave as women. The baby is literally attached the the portion of mothers who breast feed. It is stereotypical, but in my experience true, that mothers are more in tune with their infant and end up taking a lot more of the burden than the father. Ignoring that, single mothers are going to need time off, the father isn't even in the picture; and that is going to skew things as well.

henrikschroder 12y ago
In Sweden, parents get 16 months of paid parental leave, but each parent has two months reserved, so there's two months each, and then 12 months for the couple to divide as they see fit. After making the changes to reserve some time for each parent, paternal leave increased, but it also sent a strong signal that fathers should perhaps take even more of the parental leave, and the national ratio is 78%/22% now, and slowly getting more equal. (Among my college-educated upper-middle-class 30+ parent friends, it's solidly 50/50) > Even if he takes a week or two 22% of 16 months is 3.5 half months of paternal leave on average. That's pretty far from "a week or two". This is exactly what I mean when I say that americans must adjust their view of paid leave first, before adressing parental leave. So one super-simple way of making it more equal is to make the parental leave completely individual. The mother gets 8 months. The father gets 8 months. You won't reach 50/50, because some fathers will still choose to work instead and forfeit the paid leave, but you'll move the ratio much further, without force. You just provide very strong incentives, which is not the same thing.

henrikschroder 12y ago

In Sweden, parents get 16 months of paid parental leave, but each parent has two months reserved, so there's two months each, and then 12 months for the couple to divide as they see fit. After making the changes to reserve some time for each parent, paternal leave increased, but it also sent a strong signal that fathers should perhaps take even more of the parental leave, and the national ratio is 78%/22% now, and slowly getting more equal. (Among my college-educated upper-middle-class 30+ parent friends, it's solidly 50/50) > Even if he takes a week or two 22% of 16 months is 3.5 half months of paternal leave on average. That's pretty far from "a week or two". This is exactly what I mean when I say that americans must adjust their view of paid leave first, before adressing parental leave. So one super-simple way of making it more equal is to make the parental leave completely individual. The mother gets 8 months. The father gets 8 months. You won't reach 50/50, because some fathers will still choose to work instead and forfeit the paid leave, but you'll move the ratio much further, without force. You just provide very strong incentives, which is not the same thing.