Thanks for taking the poll
Every vote counts!
Should employers be required to grant male employees unpaid paternity leave after the birth of their child?
- Posted to Civic Engagement: Make Our Voices … by Jessica Dahl
8,453 people voted
The extent to which fathers can be around – especially in the early years of their childrens’ lives – often depends upon their busy work schedules. Unlike the United Kingdom – where dads have a legal right to take up to six months of paid paternity leave while their children's mothers return to work – the U.S. doesn't even require employers to give new fathers a single day of unpaid paternity leave.
Under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, most employees who work at companies with more than 50 employees are guaranteed 12 weeks unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a new child. However, the U.S is among the world’s countries that does not grant paid paternity leave for recently-made dads. The lack of a comprehensive policy puts an additional strain on households where dads are playing the primary care-giving role. As a result, only 22% of American employees who are eligible under the Family and Medical Leave Act actually take paternal leave because most aren’t able to afford the loss of income.
Check out this infographic comparing paternity leave around the world: http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1206/papa-don-t-leave/flash.html
What do you think? Should employers be required to grant male employees unpaid paternity leave after the birth of their child? Answer the poll and sound off in the comment section below.
-
Update #1
Posted by Jessica Dahl (Campaign Leader) on Jun 26, 2012Thanks to all of you who shared your opinions about the status of working dads in America! Over 2/3 of you have said that fathers should receive unpaid paternity leave from their employers in order to care for their new babies.
The Williams Institute, a Los Angeles based think-tank, recently found that there are now more than 1 million never-married men nationwide who are raising children - that's three times more than twenty years ago! Even adoption and surrogacy agencies now say that...
…
0 of 1 batches sent
Check the "Don't ask again" box below and you won't have to confirm the next time you send invitations
Discuss the poll
I am 100% for mothers being allotted the opportunity to take paternity leave, but the fathers...come on. This is an awesome Country, but I think we are going way overboard when we start saying the fathers need leave too. For many many many years the fathers go to work...stay at work...and provide for their families. That's their job! As for two father households...like mentioned in a previous post...one should go to get their beautiful new baby/child and one should go to work. One of them needs to ware the pants!
At last someone who talks sense - I am fully with you Jennifer.
Mothers to take paternity leave? What did you smoke??? Paternity = to be the FATHER of smth ...
Absolutely fathers have to take at least 6 weeks of paid leave in the very early paternity period in order to help out the mother in so many ways and balance out the family's needs with the newborn accommodation...
I strongly dislike unedjucated people
I am not the best speller~~~~ i am learning first hand with my 3 kids how damn important it is to have a father figure in so many aspects of their lives~~~ including after the fact when they are babbies, if you don't have any other facts to come at me with besides my spelling, ounctuation, and or grammer~~~~ then find anouther comment to fight with~~~~ your out #rd~~~~~
i dont like your photo,must have broke the bank for it.
The US does not look after its people very well when compared to Australia.
I'm a full time single Dad and very well looked after here.
Femanists fought for equal rights if it is equal let it be equal, not one sided I had to raise my 2 by myself because she ran off, don't let the femanists have all the control, & what happens when she has complications & can't care for the baby, & then remember it's a learning curve for both parents for the first child anyway so why even ask it's really on compassionate grounds anyway because you are asking for unpaid leave.
A lot of mothers have had to do same thing , I am sorry that it happened to you but someone has to look after the children
What's are femAnists? And what femAnists are arguing against Paternity Leave? Are these femanist people the opposite of feminists and argue AGAINST gender equality?
This ones for you Raul.
Yes Dad's need the time to bond with their new child. Also with mother's suffering from post partuem depression having Dad around to help thru this time is extremely helpful. I had a bad case of post partuem and if it wasn't for my husband I don't know what I would have done.
And ur mother!
And Dad and my mother-in-law
I said that it think that it should at the companies discretion. That said I feel companies should offer this. My only problem with it being a requirement is that puts the government in more places we do not need them, with more cost to the American people. We need less government intervention not More. I say this as a father who took off a lot of time at the birth of my oldest daughter. I took off so much time I had to re-apply for my job when I could return to work. This happened because...
…I said that it think that it should at the companies discretion. That said I feel companies should offer this. My only problem with it being a requirement is that puts the government in more places we do not need them, with more cost to the American people. We need less government intervention not More. I say this as a father who took off a lot of time at the birth of my oldest daughter. I took off so much time I had to re-apply for my job when I could return to work. This happened because there were complications that required me to be home. I did not get paid for this and I do not hold the company to blame for not holding my job (I did get my job back without trouble when I could go back to work).
Still I do not see a single reason to have an employer forced to have leave for either parent. Things like this are best used as employee attractors and employee retention tools. This is how competition works. we do not need to hold employers over a barrel trying to force them to do such things for their workers.
paid paternity leave should be granted.
No is shouldn't
I really think they should get paid.