Maternity leave is viewed as that special time that parents have to spend with their newborn born

children. It’s the time for mothers to recoup after childbirth or the time spent creating a bond

with their new additions if they went with the route of adoption or fostering. Women are the

main figure that maternity leave usually amends to depending on the state or company policies.

Unfortunately, there is often a negative stereotype around new fathers who take the full amount

of parental leave. People tend to be more supportive and understanding when new mothers use

their full leave benefit but expect new fathers to return to work within a couple of weeks

(Buisman). Men in the U.S. should be provided the same opportunity for equal maternity leave

as new mothers.

Historically, the norm is the mother taking time off for a new baby. New fathers don't have to

worry about taking maternity leave. But maternity leave for new fathers should increasingly

become the new normal thing in society. When new fathers take a longer maternity leave the

results in higher benefits for the child that is in their care. For example, in one study of working

fathers in the U.S., those who took leaves of two weeks, or more were much more likely to be

actively involved in their child’s care nine months after birth – including feeding, changing

diapers, and getting up in the night (Nepomnyaschy and Waldfogel).

While fathers will be more engaged with their children from the time spent with them from birth,

the increased engagement will lead to improved health and development outcomes. Children will

have decreased behavioral problems and higher improvement in cognitive health. These factors

play a major role in a child's well-being. The Children Bureau conducted research and found that

children who feel a closeness to their father are twice as likely as those who do not to enter

college or find stable employment after high school, 75% less likely to have a teen birth, 80%

less likely to spend time in jail, and half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms.
Children with actively involved fathers are 43% more likely to earn A’s in school and 33% less

likely to repeat a grade than those without engaged dads (all4kids).

With the involvement of fathers in the early years of a child increasing more of that father

bonding that children need, it also has a more positive effect on the relationship between the

parents. Society has the idea that mothers stay at home with their children and fathers go to

work. But when fathers take maternity leave the responsibilities at home get shared between both

parents. The time that is allotted that mothers to wake up at all hours of the night, time spent

changing diapers, doing the cleaning, and cooking, gets slipped in half. The parents share equal

responsibility for the care of the child which enhances the improvement in their relationship.

Research from Richard Petts, a Ball State sociology professor, found that couples were 25% less

likely to end their relationship in the first six years following the birth of a child when fathers

took leave as compared to couples where fathers did not take leave (PETTS et al.). Petts stated

that “Overall, our study suggests that fathers’ leave-taking may help to promote more stable

parental relationships in the U.S., identifying an additional benefit of fathers’ leave-taking for

families.”

Furthermore, fathers take leave to help improve the health benefits of their children and improve

more involvement within their relationships. The factor of pay comes into question. The time

that a new father takes off work for adoption or the birth of a child is rarely paid so depending on

the financial income if the woman is receiving paid leave from her workplace and the father is

not this pushes men to go back to work even sooner to keep family finances up. In the United

States, a 2012 Department of Labor study found that fewer employers offer paid parental leave

for men than for women and that fewer men report receiving paid parental leave than women.
(Only 13 percent of men who took parental leave received pay compared with 21 percent of

women) (DOL policy brief - U.S. Department of Labor)

Paid leave for fathers will allow for a better balance in their work and home responsibilities.

California’s paid family leave program showed that equal access to paid parental leave for both

mothers and fathers increases the number of fathers taking leave. Men are more like to take leave

if it's paid for. Fathers with access to paid parental leave designated specifically for fathers take

paternity leave at higher rates than those where leave is discretionary for either parent –

especially when that leave also has higher levels of income replacement. This increase can

change the cultural stigma and make ways more gender equal.

The cultural barrier expects women to stay home after the birth of a child and men to return to

work after a few days to a couple of weeks. Men fear taking maternity leave due to the

repercussion they could face in the workplace. Adrienne Schweer of the Bipartisan Policy

Center’s Task Force on Paid Family Leave stated, “Men tend not to take leave because they see

the impact it has on a woman's career and earnings, they see how the absence causes someone

else to pick up additional work to fill in and they don’t feel their leadership supports them in

taking the leave.”(Okerlund) The workplace should see parents in this way. Parents are equal

when it comes to their child and men shouldn’t have to receive negative backlash from

employers for wanting to build a bond with their child.

Therefore, men should be provided with the opportunity for equal maternity leave time as

mothers do. Studies have shown that the father's bond that the father built with the time spent

with a newborn can have a positive impact on the child's health. When roles are shared between
the new parents it decreases relationship conflict and breaks down the culture barrier between

genders.
Works Cited

Buisman, Diane. “Q&A: Offer Equal Amounts of Paid Parental Leave to Men and Women.”
Vigilant, 16 Oct. 2017, www.vigilant.org/employment-law-blog/qa-offer-equal-amounts-
of-paid-parental-leave-to-men-and-women.

Nepomnyaschy, Lenna, and Jane Waldfogel. “Paternity Leave and Fathers’ Involvement with
Their Young Children.” Community, Work & Family, vol. 10, no. 4, 2007, pp. 442–
445, doi:10.1080/13668800701575077.

all4kids. “A Father’s Impact on Child Development: Child Abuse Prevention, Treatment &
Welfare Services: Children’s Bureau.” Child Abuse Prevention, Treatment & Welfare
Services | Children’s Bureau, 12 May 2023, www.all4kids.org/news/blog/a-fathers-impact-
on-child-development/.

PETTS, RICHARD J., et al. “If I [Take] Leave, Will You Stay? Paternity Leave and
Relationship Stability.” Journal of Social Policy, vol. 49, no. 4, 2019, pp. 829–849,
doi:10.1017/s0047279419000928.

DOL Policy Brief - U.S. Department of Labor,

www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/legacy/files/PaternityBrief.pdf.

Okerlund, Rachael. “Why Don’t Men Take Paternity Leave?” ParentMap, 16 Dec. 2021,
www.parentmap.com/article/why-paid-paternity-leave-men-statistics.