Heterosexual men should get same parental leave benefits as mothers and gay fathers, B.C. man says

user1492 · 2014-05-08T13:42:26+00:00

I don't know if this is entirely a sexism issue. Women do need time to recover after a pregnancy, and a child may need the mother to provide breast milk (although not required).

But the law isn't justified on the basis that children need their mother, or that the mother needs the time to recover. The law is that the primary caregiver is allowed a period of time to care for the child.

Really, this sounds like a case of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Homosexual men are allowed to claim parental leave if they will be the primary caregiver. Heterosexual men are not allowed to claim parental leave if they will be the primary caregiver.

This type of discrimination is apparently forbidden by Canadian law.

Pecanpig · 2014-05-08T11:41:03+00:00

50/50

Women are in a way more necessary for medical reasons (breast milk) so it kinda depends on why people are getting parental leave.

HappyGerbil88 · 2014-05-08T12:06:47+00:00

If women get equal pay, then men get equal benefits. You can't expect a company to give more benefits to women but still pay them the same, that just doesn't make sense.

Sleipnoir · 2014-05-08T17:33:49+00:00

I'm really proud that the company my husband works for offers parental leave for men, AND for adoptive parents. He actually learned this when one of his male coworkers adopted a child.

I understand that some people might justify parental leave as existing just because women need time to recoup from pregnancy, but it seems to me that spending some time with your new child (and possibly your partner) is something we as a society should encourage. Regardless of the parent's gender or role as either a caregiver/breadwinner.

And nowadays anyway, with many dual income families, both parents need to take on some of the care giver role.

I'm not sure what country it was, but I remember reading once that one country's parental leave system is set up so that you get X amount of weeks and then you can split them between two parents however you want. I thought that was a pretty neat idea that would give both parents time with the new kid.

paper_based_girl · 2014-05-08T17:56:18+00:00

If you look at Sweden, they give a ton of parental leave and some is specifically allocated for fathers. In the US companies aren't required to give paid maternity leave at all. If men and women got paid parental leave in the US I'm sure everyone would jump at the change. No mother wants to spend maternity leave alone with a new baby, they want to father there to help and bond

Title	Heterosexual men should get same parental leave benefits as mothers and gay fathers, B.C. man says
Author	SarcastiCock
Upvotes	34
Comments	10
Date	May 8, 2014 4:01 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/250j8d/heterosexual_men_should_get_same_parental_leave/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/heterosexual-men-should-get-same-parental-leave.1000902 https://theredarchive.com/post/1000902

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