Paternity, Patriarchy and the Pandemic!

As I crawl back half-heartedly to office today, after what feels like an extended paternity leave for almost a year (with the other half of my heart tucked tightly to sleep). I guiltily confess that - though COVID hasn't been great news for many, its consequence of ‘Work from Home’ turned out to be a blessing in disguise for few expectant fathers.

Sadly, the world appoints the shoulders of a recovering mother as a primary caregiver, while the father is expected to process these new emotions quickly, and report back to work almost immediately. And there is no method to the madness in calculating this processing time. It varies from country to country, with Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Canada at the top of the list of being ideal to the new fathers of their nations, countries like Mexico, Australia, the UK and the US find themselves at the bottom of the list, whose paid paternity leaves is as less as 3 to 7 or no leaves at all.

Whilst not being able to avail Paternity Leave due to the lack of ordinance, baffles me. I sympathies with new fathers who are unable to shoulder their partner. And are often found balancing work and anxiety of packing their best performance in very little time they get with their new-born and the mother.

As the rules of the New Workplace unravels itself, I find my-self thinking if the rule makers of the new world order would consider ‘New fathers’. Lack of Paternity Leave not only robs new fathers of the crucial chance to bond with their new-born but also reinforces women's role as the primary caregiver and underpins the belief that child care is predominantly a mother's job.

In today’s date and time where we want women specially mothers to be able to seek equality in the workplace, I see ‘Paternity Leave’ as an instrumental tool in forwarding our Inclusion agenda. Companies advocating D&I must leverage this untapped tool in building an inclusive workplace for all.

To sum it up, it's a unanimous opinion of many men if not all, who want to avail 'Paternity Leave' devoid of any stigma, concerns or repercussions. Also one wouldn't think twice in saying that 'All men need paternity leave' for when a man stands by his partner in those earlier days of new adjustments and over-whelming responsibilities towards family, it calls for the duty of the men 'To Just Be There!!'