How many months of paternity leave will be sufficient?
Worldwide, maternity leave is widely practised in both private and public organizations, but you can’t say the same for paternity leave. Some countries have adopted the paternity leave practice but perhaps it needs to be a much more common thing in our ever-evolving society.
A few days ago in Nigeria, the Federal Government approved the commencement of 14-working-day paternity leave for federal civil servants. The period of the leave is expected to be fourteen working days. The leave will not be more than once in two years, and for a maximum of four children. It is a good thing this new practice is starting with government institutions, hopefully, private firms will follow suit, or better still it could be infused into the laws of the land.
Here are 4 reasons why paternity leave should be a much more common practice:
1. It Reduces The Pressure On The Mother Of The Child
The first few months after a baby is born, most of the parental load falls on the mother of the child who probably passed through long hours of labour and a series of body changes and hence should be resting.
If paternity leave becomes a much more common thing, perhaps a bulk of that parental load apart from breastfeeding could also be shouldered by the father of the newborn.
2. It Improves The Relationship With One’s Partner
If ‘paternity leave’ becomes a thing and new fathers are around for the first few weeks of the baby’s life, it will not only strengthen the bond between the father and the baby but it will also strengthen the bond between the husband and the wife. This is because they get to experience raising the child together in the early months. In most cases, it’s not even about dividing household chores but providing emotional support and being present in the moment.
Research has also proven that the greater the involvement of fathers in child care the higher it is to mitigate maternal postpartum-depression outcomes.
3. A Parental System Is Established From The Get-Go
If paternity leave becomes much more common and fathers are present for the first few months of the baby’s life, that will enable the father and mother to establish a working parental system that will form the core of their family pattern going forward.
That way both parents can begin the foundation of how they will equally distribute responsibilities now that there’s a child in the equation.
4. It Positively Improves Their Work Experience Afterwards
As opposed to the popular ideology that taking paternity leave could hamper the successful careers of men, taking paternity leave will increase the work productivity of the father when he returns to work.
Most will resume with a renewed sense of priority that will positively reflect in their work.
#UNSOLICITED is a segment for reviews and opinion pieces. In this segment, we are looking at the introduction of paternity leave to the Nigerian Work community.
