When I gave birth to my daughter, we stayed in the hospital longer due to some birth complications. When we were discharged from the hospital, my husband had to go back to work. Yes, that’s right. We have absolutely zero time at home together as a family because his paternity leave policy is next to none. This makes my husband very frustrated. He would rush home every night after get off work and spend just a little time with us, hoping to help me out during the witching hour.
There needs to be a better paternity leave policy. period. Thankfully, there are some people in the UK working hard to change things for future generations, and they are making waves in such intuitive and extraordinary ways.
Activists from a new campaign group, Dads Transformed, tied mannequins to bronze statues of men in central London and called on the government to improve Britain’s parental leave options, considered the least generous for fathers in Europe choice.
The statues include engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, actors Laurence Olivier and Gene Kelly, and athletes Thierry Henry and Tony Adams.
According to the Guardian, the UK’s paternity leave benefits are the worst in Europe, with only two weeks of statutory leave and a weekly salary of £184.03. As a result, recent research found that one in three fathers in the UK did not take paternity leave after the birth of their child, while one in two families where a father took paternity leave reported financial hardship after the birth.
Members of The Dad Shift plan to publish an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer later this month (now posted on their website) calling on him to take swift action to improve paternity leave.
The letter reads:
To Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer MP,
During the election you were attacked for wanting to spend one night a week with your children. As fathers and parents, we admire your commitment to your family and your willingness to defend it.
It’s because of this commitment and belief that we want to write to ask for your help in ensuring fathers across the country can serve their families the way you have.
The UK now offers new dads some of the worst statutory paternity leave in Europe, equivalent to just two days of fully paid leave. A third of fathers take no time off at all when a new baby is born, while one in two report struggling financially as a result.
Adequate parental leave for fathers and co-parents has benefits for mothers, babies, fathers and society, including improved health for all. Countries with paternity leave of six weeks or more also saw the gender pay gap narrow by 4% and the labor force participation gap by 3.7%, meaning changes could help the economy grow while helping British families.
As Labor pledges to review parental leave arrangements within its first year in office, we ask you to meet with us and consider supporting the Dads Transform call to make parental leave affordable, with significant time allowances, and support Equality between parents.
You talked about the distance in your relationship with your father, but even in that distance, how he helped shape the father you became. We’re asking you to help generations of fathers close this gap, allowing fathers to spend time with their children and figure out the kind of father they want to be.
New polling conducted to launch the campaign found that an overwhelming 90% of fathers said they wanted to be a more important part of their children’s lives.
In its manifesto, Labor pledged that the government would “review the parental leave system within its first year in office to best support working families”.
So, who is leading this amazing moment of activism and struggle for change?
George Gabriel and Alex Lloyd-Hunt, co-founders of Dad Transformation, traveled across central London attaching baby models to statues of men. They are assisted by Mel Pinet, who runs classes to help parents master the art of slinging and bonding with their newborn babies.
The statue of an illustrious male with a baby wrapped on his chest arouses great interest among morning commuters.
“A lot of people stopped to take pictures; people responded very enthusiastically. We wanted it to be a proactive and provocative sight,” Gabriel said.
“There is such an imbalance in our portrayal and understanding of figures in public life. Women are often asked about their lives as wives, mothers and daughters, while male figures in public life are often not invited to share this part of themselves. We The hope is to draw attention to their role as fathers and the need for better support for people when their babies are born.
