Pushing for paternity leave
The time is ripe for Barbados to legislate paternity leave.
That’s the view of the Executive Director of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA), Anderson Langdon, who says it is but one of the measures that needs to be facilitated to help improve the family dynamics in this country.
“We often talk about better parenting, particularly among fathers, and improving the development of children, but we need to do the things that allow fathers to be fathers, and one such way is to allow mandatory paternity leave for expecting fathers. Also, the same way we accommodate the parenting life of women, we need to do the same with men. We need to set up our work and social networks to be equitable to allow persons, both men and women, to have the time to be better parents,” he said in an interview with The Barbados Advocate.
Langdon said he is cognisant that the current Government is keen on the idea of paternity leave, and he wants to see it become a reality sooner rather than later. However, he is adamant that society need not wait for Government to make it law. Langdon is suggesting that local businesses, which have not already done so, should create paternity policies, contending that there is no need to wait for legislation to do the right thing.
His comments came as he acknowledged that some companies already have paternity policies in place, but lamented that in too many of those cases, the timeframe fathers are given off from work is not adequate for them to bond with their children. To that end, the BFPA head is adamant that paternity leave should be no less than one month.
“Ideally if we are saying that the system is equitable, men and women should be given the same treatment as it relates to parental leave. But we understand that the physical impact of pregnancy on a women and that should be taken into account of course, but two or three days is not enough leave to give a new father. In the BFPA we have made it a month, that is the least it should be, and we need to have discussion at the societal level now,” he insisted.
The Executive Director made the comments as he maintained that to implement such a policy nationally, should not be difficult, as they have the process used in respect of maternity leave to draw on. With that in mind, he said that just as women have to submit a certificate verified by a doctor, for paternity leave men should also have to do the same when they apply.
“They say that when a child is born they bond with their mother within the first few weeks, if the mother is allowed only to bond with the child, what happens to the bond with the father? Now because we are archaic we have a society where that distance between father and child most often always exists, because the early bond is not there. If both a mother and father are given the opportunity to be present as much as possible, you will see it in the development of the child. When both parents are present in a positive manner, you will see the benefits,” he contended.
Moreover, the BFPA head is insisting that if as a society we want to see an improvement in family life, the behaviour of our children and the society as a whole, then workplaces also need to be more accommodating of the family. He said they must recognise that in order to get the best out of their employees they must create an environment that is conducive to them making their home and family life the best that it can be.