Should men in SA be entitled to paternity leave
Currently, South African men are, by law, not entitled to paternity leave. Some companies do allow the father to take some time off for the birth of their child, but is this a privilege or should you be entitled to it?
In a recent survey, 97% of all fathers surveyed wanted the right to more than three days of leave when their child is born - proving the importance of father-infant interaction.
92% of the fathers surveyed rated building a stronger bond with their newborn as a top priority.
Obviously, the first couple of weeks with a newborn are the most challenging, as it's also the time when the mother is still recovering from the birth - and having a dad around doesn’t only help with the bonding of the dad and baby, but it also goes some way in helping couples share the stress of the new arrival.
Interestingly, 65% of fathers strongly held the belief that longer paternity leave would break down gender stereotypes, while 47% strongly believed that increased paternity leave would increase a women’s participation in the workplace.
Read more: Paternity leave: what are the options for SA dads?
So despite increasing campaigns for policy changes, South African law has made no provision for new fathers. Even with policies such as the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, which advocates equality of all persons, not enough has been done in terms of shared parental responsibilities.
Expectant mothers have a right to four months maternity leave, while expectant fathers have no rights to parental leave at all. Instead, the closest to parental leave that new fathers are allowed is Family Responsibility Leave - found in Section 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
In terms of this Act, a male employee may take three days of leave during a cycle of 12 months of employment with their employer when their child is born, when the child is sick or if a spouse, parent, grandparent, child or sibling dies.
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Furthermore, according to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, before fathers can be granted this leave, they need to meet certain conditions of employment. Only employees who have been with their employer for a period of four months or more and who work for the said employer for a minimum of four days per week are entitled to paid family responsibility leave. If the employee’s family responsibility leave is not used in the 12-month cycle, it lapses at the end of the annual leave period in which it is accumulated.
In places like Kenya and Burundi, fathers are allowed two weeks paternity leave. Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, and Cote d’Ivoire also provide longer parental leave policies at 10 days each.
As a mom and wife - was your hubby allowed to take some time off when your child was born - and how did it make you feel that he could or couldn't be there in those crucial first days of your child's life.
As a dad, would you like more time off or is it better that moms bond with their babies first?
Take a listen to how you responded: