Should men be given paternity leave?

[Kazimiera]

I'm not sure how things work in other countries, but in South Africa a woman is given four consecutive months of fully paid maternity leave from the time of 2 weeks before the birth. She may resume work before then if she wants, but it is compulsory that she takes 6 weeks after the birth of the baby.

Paternity leave is another issue, and usually the man is only given a few days, if even that.

Do you think that men should be granted fully paid paternity leave, and for how long?

[Sikeliot]

The man should get paternity leave but a shorter amount of time than his significant other's maternity leave.

[Su]

Yes. In fact in an ideal world -I wish-:

Maternity leave up to 18 months, first 12 months paid fully the rest 6 months just 75% of the basic salary.

Paternal leave up to 6 months, first 3 months paid fully, the rest non-paid.

[Mraz]

I voted no, a little baby needs his mom first, the children-father relation comes later.
Plus I don't think that's economicaly a good thing.

[Mary]

No. Taking care if children is a woman's job.

[The Lawspeaker]

Yes. In fact in an ideal world:

Maternity leave up to 18 months, first 12 months paid fully the rest 6 months just 75% of the basic salary.

Paternal leave up to 6 months, first 3 months paid fully, the rest non-paid.

I am in favour of it too:

For the mother 18 months from which 18 fully paid. For the father 9 months, 6 months fully paid and the rest 75 percent of the last earned salary.

But only for the first child. For the second child it will be 18 months for the mother fully paid. And just 6 months for the father (fully paid).

From there on just 18 months from which 12 months fully paid and the other 6 months 75 percent of the salary. None for the father. This should be done in order to ensure that the number of children per family will be kept low (because of our dense population).

[The Lawspeaker]

I voted no, a little baby needs his mom first, the children-father relation comes later.
Plus I don't think that's economicaly a good thing.

The Swedes and Norwegians have it. And they are Europe's finest economies.

[Albion]

The Swedes and Norwegians have it. And they are Europe's finest economies.

How would it work for large countries though? Scandinavians haven't got so much as 20 million people between them, NL probably has more people than Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
How would it work in countries of 60 million (France, UK), 80 million (Germany, Turkey?), or ~140 million (Russia)?

I'am very much in favour of paternity leave, but I too am thinking about the economic aspect of it. The first few weeks after the child's birth are the most important as the kid will acclimatise to the world and the people around it. In that time it is better to have the mother and father around it than having the father at work and only seeing it for a few hours each day.

I'd set paternity leave at 2 months paid, 1 month optional extra (unpaid, but father's could take some of it as that years paid holiday).

[The Lawspeaker]

How would it work for large countries though? Scandinavians haven't got so much as 20 million people between them, NL probably has more people than Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
How would it work in countries of 60 million (France, UK), 80 million (Germany, Turkey?), or ~140 million (Russia)?

Welll: I don't care about the UK, France, Germany or Turkey or Russia but I think that this could actually work in order to bring down the population by creating a balance between work and life. Such a system would celebrate parenthood as the treasure it is but it would also limit the amount of children (by means of the limited amount of parental leave and benefits) one can get. It would work even better when combined with a one-child policy.

[Albion]

Welll: I don't care about the UK, France, Germany or Turkey or Russia but I think that this could actually work in order to bring down the population by creating a balance between work and life. Such a system would celebrate parenthood as the treasure it is but it would also limit the amount of children (by means of the limited amount of free time and benefits) one can get. It would work even better when combined with a one-child policy.

New Urbanists say that population growth should be tolerated by forcing people into living in ever smaller spaces. The Japanese have reached the stage where their population is too much for the land area. People threat about their ageing population which will be hard to sustain, but a fall in their population will be healthy for the country in the long term.
Some people in the larger Japanese cities are already living in one room "micro apartments", so there is a need to control population growth.



One day all this could be yours!


People naturally don't like being told what to do though. A one child policy would have to limit state support to families that have more children, not make it illegal to. And eventually it would have to be abolished so that a stable population at replacement level was maintained (enough being born to replace those that die).