Writing in his new book ‘Go Big’, Ed Miliband states that the current paternity and maternity leave system encourages a “men at work, women at home” culture.
In his book, the Shadow Business Secretary has written about policy ideas he says could transform UK society and advocates for a “reordering” of responsibilities that gives men the option of spending more time caring for children, without financial penalty. Miliband states research that suggests paternity leave has long-term effects on the quality of father-child relationships and that men who take leave when a child is born develop a closer relationship with their child.
He says:
“Our ambition should be to build a world where men engage equally in the caring that has historically been done by women, and in so doing reorder the values of work, family and love so that work does not always come first.”
He adds:
“If we get this right, everyone can contribute to economic success and acquire more choice about how they balance work and family life. It could be the start of a remaking of the social contract between women and men and between work and family life.”
Michael Lewkowicz, spokesperson for the charity Families Need Fathers, said:
“We fully support an extension of paid paternity leave. We believe both parents matter in children’s lives and research evidence supports this. Our policies are out of date and don’t support the best interests of children or families in general.”
Currently men only receive two weeks’ paid paternity leave at a flat rate of £150 a week, meaning that most families can’t afford for the new fathers to take time off. Miliband believes that this existing policy encourages fathers to take only a “brief paternal pit stop”.
Caroline Nugent, HRD at Financial Ombudsman Services, said:
“Having more paid time off is really something we need to consider and a number of employers, like mine, try to support by paying more than the statutory minimum.”
Miliband is calling for paternity leave that lasts at least twelve weeks which he feels would also benefit women in the workplace and help narrow the gender pay gap – shown to be attributed in part to childcare.
He writes:
“We would start to break free from a culture which loads so much on to women, penalises them for having children, constrains them in a particular stereotype.”
