They could offer men paternity leave in the same way they currently offer women maternity leave, for example. When my first daughter was born in 1983 my Fortune 50 employer allowed me to be away from work in the birthing room on the actual day of her birth. But then they told me I had to come in and work overtime to replace that day I was gone. By the time my second daughter was born in 1986, they had “liberalized” the policy and I was able get the actual day of her birth off without having to work overtime to replace it. But that was all the time I was allwoed to take. In both cases I had asked for a week off but was flatly denied. By contrast, both then in the 1980s and now in 2007 women were and are allowed to take up to 12 weeks off after the birth of a child, even though only 4 weeks or so of that time is for actual physical recovery.

These same kinds of anti-father policies apply in other child-centered areas, where my company makes accomodations for moms so they can spend more time with “their” children, but then they deny these same benefits to dads. As an example, almost all telecommuters in my company are are moms of pre-school children. Moms also represent the lion’s share of part-time workers, and part-time work allows them to be home when their school age children go to and come home from school. Ostensibly, the company has a policy that discourages part-time employment. In reality that policy only applies to men.

And on it goes.

Cindy,

Good evening.

Refreshing piece on fathers in article “Balancing Act: Today’s fathers feel neglected by their employers.” Rare in feminist (man bad, woman good) driven media.

I hope you do not lose your job or jeopardize your career.

Blessings,
Mark Ruffolo, MS, MBA
Chicago, IL