By: Gaurika Sharma
Edited by: Namitha A and Pruthvi C.S
The birth of a child is a momentous occasion and a lifetime of joy for the parents. To make the most of this experience, the mothers go on maternity leave. But what about the fathers? Should they not be allowed some time off and experience all the “firsts” of their newborn child.
The Central Government of India, in 1999, issued a notification saying that paternity leave would be allowed for male Central Government employees, with less than two surviving children, for 15 days to take care of his newborn and his wife. They can avail of this leave 15 days before or within 6 months from the delivery date.
Rajeev Satav, an MP from Maharashtra, in 2017 proposed a Paternity Benefit Bill in the Lok Sabha, which states that all working fathers of newborns, including those in the unorganized and private sectors, be given leave of 15 days, that can be extended to 3 months. Rajeev Satav’s precise words were, “Child care is the joint responsibility of both parents. They must devote time to the newborn to ensure its proper well-being”, and this is very true indeed! He emphasized equal parental rights. Both parents must devote ample time to the child’s care. The father too must be allowed some time off from work to take good care of his infant as well as his wife, who has just given birth to a baby enduring a lot of pain and discomfort.
Many MNCs have also implemented this policy and facilitated the making of modern families across the globe. Here are some examples of such MNCs, Microsoft, and Starbucks allow 12 weeks of paternity leave, Infosys allows 5 days of paternity leave, Facebook and UNICEF provides 16-17 weeks of paternity leave, to working men in their offices worldwide. This throws light on a very important question- “Are there any particular roles of men and women in a family?”
In the olden times, and even now in some conservative households, it is believed that the duty of a woman is to get married, have children and take care of them as well as the entire family. She shouldn’t step out of the house but should serve people when they come home and not give her opinion during family discussions. On the other hand, the man is seen as the hero of the family. He is the sole bread earner and is seen as capable enough to achieve his goals, whereas a woman is assumed to be capable of only cooking and cleaning. However, with time, this thinking process is slowly changing.
This decade seems to be the phase of women's empowerment throughout the world. Now princesses are capable of fighting their own battles and don’t require a ‘knight in shining armor ’ to come to their rescue. Women have achieved senior posts in many top firms and are entering every field possible. Recently, Jammu and Kashmir got their first woman bus driver! Virat Kohli too has taken a step to break these gender stereotypes. He has decided to be with his wife, actress Anushka Sharma, and witness the birth of his first child. He has set a strong example to the men worldwide that changing diapers and cleaning spit-ups isn’t only a women’s job.
We are living in a developing world, so the idea that a mother’s full-time job is to only take care of her child, and not have a career, should not be entertained. Both parents are equally responsible for the care and upbringing of their child, and thus, both should be allowed equal time with their child. This proves that there are no specific roles for men and women in a family. A man cooking dinner and cleaning the house, while the woman is the sole bread earner of the family is perfectly fine too. Men and women are both equal.
Let’s take an example of a scooter. Consider the wheels of the scooter to be a woman and man, and the scooter, as a whole, the world. The absence of anyone wheel would create an imbalance and the scooter wouldn’t be able to fulfill its requirement. Because, we can establish that men and women are equal, and therefore, cannot be assigned specific roles as one is dependent on the other.
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