Should Paternity Leave Be Statutory?

Perhaps the greatest blessing God has bestowed on parents is the unique gift of children. Right from conception to adulthood, the responsibilities of a parent towards his or her child has no boundaries and God in His infinite wisdom perhaps made it so.

That is why I believe neglecting the care of a child who did not ask to be born, is the highest irresponsible act.

In many ways, society has found its own approach to responsible parenthood and woven a sense of accountability into its traditions and practices.

One of such is the naming ceremony of a child. A father must necessarily name his children and perform all the rites that go with it.

I highly commend the Ga tradition in Ghana whereby fathers cannot escape the public naming ceremony of even their illegitimate children. It is a must. Somehow, it re-enforces some degree of accountability.

So it is also in the Christian communities. Parents go through the ritual of baptism of their children and even go beyond that by appointing responsible role models as god parents for their children.

These godparents are seen as substitutes in bringing up their children in a God-fearing manner in the absence of the natural parents.

At the workplace, employers are obliged, as enshrined in their collective agreements or management contracts, to give their female employees at least three months of maternity leave to take care of themselves and their babies immediately before and after delivery.

Of course, whoever introduced this benefit globally must have had a deep foresight. They must have had the highest sense of respect for women and motherhood. What did they think of the fathers then, since paternity leave did not feature originally.

Years ago, majority of women were home- bound. They did not work and so had all the time to raise children. Even those who worked only did partial hours that afforded them the opportunity to be at home for the family.

It was the man’s duty to provide the needs of the family.

The tables have turned since. The economic pressures of the day have sent women in search of careers that are keeping them far away from home and sometimes working odd hours to earn a living to support the family’s budget.

Even statistics show that there are more women in agriculture than men. Women are increasingly spending longer hours on their jobs and contributing in equal terms, sometimes even more, to the upkeep of their homes.

The quality of life of families today has changed for the better, thanks to the additional income from working mothers. Can the tables overturn for fathers to also take lead roles in the care of the children, especially in those early days of the child’s life?

Are we moving in the direction of paid leave for fathers to stay home to assist with the care of their new-born babies - paternity leave they call it?

Paternity leave, an employee’s benefit that provides paid and unpaid time off work to help care for a child, is a practice that is being encouraged in some advanced countries.

Of course, national legislations may vary and individual employers may choose to provide benefits beyond those required by law. Central European countries indeed surpass all others in the world when it comes to paternity leave and its variations.

Indeed for them, it is even possible for fathers to take leave instead of mothers but it is not common.

Over here in Ghana, paternity leave is unheard of in many establishment. “Paternity what”? was the answer a few public servants in one block of offices in the Ministries area in Accra asked when I asked what they thought about paternity leave as a benefit.

It seems a complete virgin area even though on elaboration, they supported its introduction. How about employers? Do they find it necessary and are they practising it?

Should it be of national concern? Will paternity leave encourage responsible fatherhood in our society if it was to be instituted?

In my search for answers, I spoke to some well- seasoned human resource professionals and paediatricians to get a feel of their organisations’ stance on the issue and their personal thoughts on whether or not paternity leave should be made statutory in Ghana.

While the view on paid leave for a father-to-be was unanimous, emphasising that the granting of paternity leave by employers was long overdue, almost all of those i spoke to, even though custodians of HR strategies and year in year out they develop and advise their organisations on personnel planning and development issues, do not capture paternity leave for their male employees. The practice is non-existent in their organisations.

Indeed, sampled views from some of them were that paternity leave was once discussed but has never seen any light. Another said that they did consider giving fathers some days off for such domestic issues as casual leave.

What is interesting is the warning shared by all of them that there would be the likely event of misuse of paternity leave by fathers if it is made statutory.

For this reason, majority of them said it should be made obligatory nationally. There should be strict control measures and enforcements put in place to monitor misuse.

One of the serious detractions and loss of concentration at the workplace by male employees is the anxiety over their new-born children. From what I gathered, particularly from two experienced paediatricians that I spoke to, those very early days of a baby’s life are no doubt important to the father.

One of the paediatricians said, “I have had the privilege of seeing some very caring men bring their children or accompany their wives to the clinic. These are few and far in between so such a facility would be ideal for them.”

A HR expert told me, “for those men who anxiously await the birth of their babies, having to go to work when the babies finally arrive could be counterproductive.”

According to her, “there is too much excitement and the place to be is home with the wife and new-born baby and not putting together strategic plans or attending management meetings. The concentration will not be there”.

Even though sceptic about the rightful use of paternity leave, almost everyone I sampled believed that paternity leave should be given serious thought by employers before it becomes a concern for national consideration.

According to them, the stresses of everyday life are so many that it is only fair to give a father who shows genuine evidence that his wife has had a baby time off to be with them.

There is the strong belief that those initial stages of birth have a magical way of giving everyone who is close enough to the situation, a renewed appreciation of life.

For some people, when the fathers are involved at the early stage, during day time and night time, they build a better bonding with mother and the baby which is good for the baby, the mother and the father.

Time-off from work for a father to be home to help with his baby’s feeding and changing of napkins or diapers is one call that employers would want to give a thought to.

Clearly, as in the words of one practising HR professional, it would be a quick win, not only for employers in terms of productivity, but also for Ghana.

“It would convert some current inefficiency into efficiency for nursing fathers who unofficially take time off at odd times. They lose concentration sometimes and are, therefore, non-productive.

Official days off for the purpose would challenge them to give off their best once they return to work.”, he added.

Though paternity leave may not necessarily encourage paternal responsibility in this male- dominated world, the unanimous result of my HR and paediatric sampling is that the debate must start now with the aim of initiating a legislation on it.

It would be great not only for the good of productivity, but also enhance father, mother and child bonding.