Men Will Use Paternity Leave As Holiday, They Won't Do Anything Says Maneka Gandhi

Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi had added a new angle to the debate on men being granted paternity leave.

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According to the minister men in India would just use paternity leave as a holiday, instead of taking care of their children.  

“Paternity leave can be considered only if, once the woman goes back to work after her 26 weeks of leave, we find that men are availing their sick leave for a month to take care of the child. Let me see how many men do that. I will be happy to give it but for a man, it will be just a holiday, he won’t do anything,” Maneka Gandhi told The Indian Express.

Her comment comes at a time when there is a proposal to increases the period of leave for new mothers from the existing 12 weeks to 26 weeks in the organised sector.

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The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 proposed by Maneka also encourages employers to facilitate ‘work from home’ for new mothers.

But when it came to the demand for paternity leave men, the minister said: “If men gave me one iota of hope by taking sick leave for child care, then yes, we can think of mooting a proposal for paternity leave.” 

While most of the European countries have provisions for paternity leave for fathers, surprisingly US doesn't.