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Parental leave
Jan. 17th, 2011 02:53 pmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12204525
Great - encouraging more fathers to take a primary carer role. It could be a really good move by the government to help change the way that childcare happens.
But:
1) "fathers will be able to share maternity leave with their wives" - Is it really only open to married couples? If so, that's appalling, and if not, the BBC should damn well know better than to write it.
2) "when she asked me I was more than happy to do it" - it's still presenting the responsibility for looking after babies as for women, who can choose to delegate it to (male) partner if they wish, rather than as a joint decision and responsbility. (Also that when his wife went back to work she wrote him loads of lists, so he didn't have the task of working out what to do - that's more of a handover thing, perhaps, but in context it grates.)
3) It's all about male/female probably married couples - can same-sex partners share? (I've also just realised that I don't know what happens for leave when the parents are men now, and whether this is something that could be improved.)
Great - encouraging more fathers to take a primary carer role. It could be a really good move by the government to help change the way that childcare happens.
But:
1) "fathers will be able to share maternity leave with their wives" - Is it really only open to married couples? If so, that's appalling, and if not, the BBC should damn well know better than to write it.
2) "when she asked me I was more than happy to do it" - it's still presenting the responsibility for looking after babies as for women, who can choose to delegate it to (male) partner if they wish, rather than as a joint decision and responsbility. (Also that when his wife went back to work she wrote him loads of lists, so he didn't have the task of working out what to do - that's more of a handover thing, perhaps, but in context it grates.)
3) It's all about male/female probably married couples - can same-sex partners share? (I've also just realised that I don't know what happens for leave when the parents are men now, and whether this is something that could be improved.)
