The French Senate voted last Friday a new duration for the paternity leave, doubling the number of days from 14 to 28 days - including 7 mandatory. The National Assembly’s text proposition will be applied from the 1st of July 2021. Note that the leave would be financed the first three days by the employer and the rest by the national social security.
“When a baby arrives in the world, there is no reason it should be just the mother who takes care of it,” President Emmanuel Macron said in announcing the extension, arguing that parents should have “more equality in sharing the responsibility from the first day.”
This September, neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik suggested in a report commissioned by Mr. Macron’s government that fathers should be able to take up to nine weeks’ paid leave. Yet, the extension announced by Mr. Macron was welcomed by the doctor, even though it is not as ambitious as the report suggested it should be.
The maternity leave after the birth of the child lasts 10 weeks ( and 6 before the birth) which is still a lot longer than the current paternity leave. Still, the reform is considered as an achievement and a step closer to equality. It has however divided the population as well as the Senate, considering the rising cost for the national social security, already in budget deficit for an estimated 50 billion euros.
This will allow both parents to be more present for their children during a time that specialists consider to be crucial for the child’s development. Firstly introduced in January 2002 in France, the paternity leave is a way of answering several society challenges : the implication of fathers in their children’s education, the rebalancing of the household chores, but also the professional equality between men and women, maternity being clearly identified as a brake to women’s careers.
The professional equality between men and women as well as women’s career development will be enhanced by the increasing of fathers’ parental leave, to the point that some argue we should be reaching similar duration of parent leaves.
In comparison, the US is the least considering to new parents within the list of world’s richest countries. A 2019 Unicef report analyzed 41 countries on how they legally protected the leave for new parents. In 14 of the world’s richest countries, 26 of them have a paid paternity leave, and 40 a paid maternity leave, the US having neither.
On the other hand, Finland will offer from 2021 a 164 day parental leave, regardless the gender of the parent and the blood connection to the child. A single parent would therefor benefit the total amount of a single household, which would equal to 328 days.
Article by Juliette Blanca
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