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Fathers and the workplace

Steve Bridger

Interesting article on the BBC today.

"Workplace policies have not kept up with the social changes in people's everyday lives," according to Maria Miller, Chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee.

Couldn't agree more... could you?

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  • in reply to Steve Bridger
    I had a brief conversation on twitter about paternity leave yesterday. It was less to do with shared parental leave, or fathers who are the main caregivers, but symptomatic of the whole thing, in my opinion.
    My husband recently told his manager that he was going to become a dad and apart from a 'well done, isn't it nice to know that everything works' he received very little information. I ended up providing links to the gov.uk info on statutory paternity, etc for him and a couple of his colleagues who are in a similar situation.
    It's not a particularly small organisation, but it's a male dominated one. I couldn't help but think that if an organisation had the same demographic, but female, there would be an impetus to have strong maternity policies and provision in place. But perhaps it's a reflection on his organisation rather than wider practices.

    Inspired by a different conversation on here, I've just updated our paternity and maternity letters to highlight the provision of shared parental leave. We already had policies for this, but it might not have been obvious if you didn't know about it.
  • in reply to Steve Bridger

    In answer to your surprise and disappointment Steve, I don't think you need to feel either. As some of our women colleagues have been courageous enough to admit, the whole basis of Flexible Working (FW) and shared Parental Leave can seem something of a two-edged sword, and on that basis one where many readers and very-interested parties (of both sexes) will be disinclined to comment, for fear of being misunderstood or causing offence.

    Until the change in the Regulations in 2014 (and the unusual explanatory memorandum that appears with them; very worth reading) FW in almost any context was a "women only" prerogative, and one which had been hard-fought-for over many years. Now the (enlightened) changes in legislative approach, sharing not only the right to apply for FW on more than child-care grounds, but to share in parental leave, might (entirely reasonably) be felt to offer men "gratis" the benefits of what women have had to fight, and often sacrifice for, over many years.

    Therefore promoting the change to universal flexibility might seem at the least discourteous for many men and possibly verging on treason for a woman!

    (I also use the term "enlightened" above with some advisement, insofar as I wonder how quickly our legislators would have promoted it so ardently if it had not been for the realisation that in a 24/7 international working environment FW extending and replacing 5 x 8 working makes very good "bottom-line" business sense).

    But as a parent, and a grandparent, I welcome the changes FW signifies, and might itself promote in equality; not only for the opportunity given to fathers to share the responsibilities, joy, bonding .....and shear hard graft... of the early weeks of a child's life, but in the further progress toward the wider, overall, recognition of both equality, and difference when it does have value, in our society as a whole.

    P