INTRODUCTION

PATERNITY LEAVE means employment-protected leave of absence for employed fathers

at the time of childbirth. Paternity leave is not stipulated by international convention. In
general, periods of paternity leave are much shorter than for maternity leave. Because of the
short period of absence, workers on paternity leave often continue to receive full wage
payments. In some countries, father specific leave entitlement is part of the parental leave
scheme, rather than established as a separate right1.

Being a country where our family is of first and foremost importance for us, an employer
needs to keep in mind that having a child is a start to the chapter of family for almost all,
hence, it is an utter necessity to provide reasonable amount of maternity as well as paternity
leave. We must not forget that for a vulnerable new mother and her newly born child, father is
the most important person to be around.

The Labour Ministry, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Women and Child
Development, has amended the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, to increase maternity leave in
the private sector from 12 weeks to 262. There is silence, however, on paternity leave in the
private sector. In emphasising only on the maternity aspect without addressing the issue of
parenthood, the proposed change in the law ignores the highly skewed gender distribution of
unpaid work in India.

EVOLUTION OF PATERNITY LEAVE

As such the evolution of paternity leave cannot be traced back but history shows the Sweden
was first one to introduce the paid paternity leave. The reasons for evolution of paternity
could be the prevailing of nuclear family system when mothers were not able to take care of
their child properly and they need some ones assistance in taking care. So to help their
partners the paternity leave came into the picture. The foreign countries are showing more
concern towards the paternity leave as they find it useful for the development and growth of
the child.

1 www.oecd.org/social/family/database.htm.

2 http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=148712