To think that people arguing against equal parental leave rights want discrimination against women?

[MinesAPintOfTea]

This is all over the news today, and listening to the "balanced" debate on Jeremy Vine over lunch I was getting very annoyed. The argument against seemed to be that men should be going out to earn money and are useless with babies.

And worse the argument that it will be bad for small businesses. If those small businesses aren't already discriminating against women (even if they do so discretely) then it would have no impact on average against the group. In fact the flexibility element might even help them out more.

And breathe...

Great idea. Too many marriages/partnerships founder because blokes have got the idea that childcare is women's work- because that's the precedent set in the first year of their child's life. An equal split during that first year would at least start us all off on the same footing!

Has the change actually happened or is it being debated?

This will be great for us as I'm the main earner and we can only really afford for me to not work for about 4months.

Here in Canada its one year of parental leave, it can be shared/split between parents. It works well, because either parent can step up as needed.

Yanbu.

I don't really understand how this will work. I took 12 months mat leave with DD. Does this mean my employer will pay my mat pay to my husband? Or, is it only SMP that be claimed by both parents?

You will be entitled to split the 12 months between you. (In some countries, a split is mandatory.) Your employer pays your leave, his employer pays his.

So, his contract will change to offer paid parental leave? Or, just SMP?

Grrrrrr F the guy on BBC news from the Institute of Economic Something or other. I CANNOT believe te comments he is making about women. If you substituted an ethnic minority in lieu of women in his dialog (I.e. "black people prefer to stay at home and not work") he would be racist. Am so grrr listening to the ignorant generalisations he is making.

garlic I know someone (female) who was asked their 'plans for children' at an interview 2 weeks ago. We are a long way from equality.

I have issues with this but for odd reasons.

When ever I hear about changes to things involving women I spend quite awhile thinking about how a abuser can use it to abuse them,unfortunately my warped mind has come up with many many ways for this one.

Bumble and Curiosity

Me, too, Sock, but abusers will always find ways to abuse ... On a more positive note, more men taking pat leave could lead to fewer fuckwits deeming the barefoot wife model 'normal' - and more women realising it too?

Course they will but this gives them quite a few legally sanctioned ways to do it.

But feel free to disregard my comments I always get a bit like this when change is spoken about (I don't like it much you see)

Louwn. Currently, your partner can take over your mat leave once you have had 20 weeks off, so you could swap as your colleague have done. The new legislation will allow couples to 'flip' the mat leave to the partner after just 2 weeks.

The partner who swaps in continues to receive SMP in the usual way.

But, if you get far more than SMP for months how can you swap that? Is it just the SMP period or the unpaid period that can be swapped?

Would this apply to SAHM households too?

The unpaid period can be swapped too. So...exactly as it currently is...but after 2 weeks you could flip the remaining 50 weeks of 'mat leave' to your partner. Ay SMP entitlement flips too. Additional contractual pay is another matter of course!

Same rules of course apply to gay couples.

If this truly is about getting men more involved in fatherhood, surely it would apply to SAHM households too?

Of course it does Wombles.

Star - you cannot flip any additional contractual entitlement to full pay. S if you were contractually entitled to 5 months full pay, but went back to work and flipped after 2 months, your partner would only be entitled to SMP unless he/she had additional contractual entitlement too. Whether employers will offer that remains to be seen (unlikely).

So if the woman is an sahm does the man get a year?

I think the max a man can take is 40 weeks - not far off the year!

Sorry I meant 50 weeks.

I'm not keen on the change. It's focused on one year. I'd rather see a situation where both could, say, use this over a period of time to reduce hours to work flexibly. I have relatives in Ireland where both parents used parental leave one day a week to allow for only three days childcare after six months, saw them through to school age with two kids.... much more financially supportive of continuing careers than one 52 week period.