Yesterday the girls at the office were talking about one of the other girls going on maternity leave. Four months of paid leave.
This got me wondering, how much time to new dads get?
According to my search, three to five days. Someone can clear this up for me if I’m wrong but I know it’s not four damn months.
Now, even if we take away the six week recovery period for mom that still leaves a fuck load of time to just, look after baby at home whilst dad is allowed three days after the birth of his child to be with his family at home.
Maybe this would have worked in a so called traditional household but what about all the alternative lifestyles today? Single men adopting babies, Gay couples adopting (do lesbians both get maternity leave?), mom being the primary bread winner etc etc
Come now, why don’t we give men some equal rights for a change, acknowledge that they’re the seed giver and all that crap.
Unless they don’t want the leave. I’m sure a lot of them are more than happy to get away from the screaming and crying…and that’s just the wife, we won’t even talk about the baby.
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Yeah, I also wonder about this. It just doesn’t sound fair that only women have to deal with the baby’s crying and nappy cleaning.
Make the men do their bit, too!
Yep – according to the Basic Conditions of Employment, it’s 3 days “Family Responsibility Leave” per year.
Callith: Not exactly fair, I would agree. But for other reasons than those you suggest. I would love to help out more with 0.6 and 0.6.2 (when she arrives) but it’s actually just not possible.
Also, I can’t change my boy’s nappy at Canal Walk without having to go into the Ladies lo0s – how very progressive. And try finding a “daddy and baby” group in Cape Town. Nope (nope in May 06, anyway – haven’t looked recently). But “mommy and baby groups” – easy.
Incidentally, another post about motherhood. Methinks the lady doth protest too much!
callith – that’s a fair point too
6 – I do it all for you. The whole four months paid leave thing made me think that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spew out a baby, but then I remembered there’d be those other twenty or so years of it’s crap
Maybe when I grow up.
I took 3 weeks to be with my new family – one week ‘personal leave’ and two weeks annual leave. No maternity leave at all in Aus for male or female, but you do get a big fat ‘Baby bonus’ after the birth of your kiddo (about $4500). Pays for nappies for a while.
In the UK, men get about 5 days paid at 70% but women get GBP120 per week for 6 months (can’t remember the exact amounts or times)
Most public bodies in the UK offer at least 3 (and usually 6) months at full pay for mothers.
It does suck here. I worked for a Swedish company and some of my Swedish colleagues are entitled to 18 months of paid leave that they can take at their own discretion within the child’s first 5yrs. So, these guys end up working half days everyday for 3 yrs to maximize their leave and stay in touch with work.
Buuut, I don’t think that will be a good thing in SA. The number of idle hands will only increase and guys will start having babies just for the leave! We live in a funny country!
Delboy – 4500? That’s pretty rocking. I’d give up my time off for that amount of money. Although I’m sure it is a bummer for people who want to be home with their kids.
HoTsTePPa – That’s actually a valid point. Maybe we should take away all paid maternity leave and see if it impacts the birth rate.