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Quiet rightly, this coming weekend (Fathers’ Day), is a celebratory one.
It’s where the nation’s ten million dads all (hopefully) get to enjoy a rare bit of attention for all the great (and sometimes unsung), work they do.
But before they mark this more joyous aspect of fatherhood, today, dads up and down the country are being urged to take part in a nationwide ‘Dad Strike’, organised by Alex Lloyd Hunter – Co-Founder of campaign group The Dad Shift.
The Dad Shift – which aims to mobilise dads into picketing outside the offices of the Department of Business and Trade in London, and The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh – wants to draw attention to what Lloyd Hunter sees as woeful paternity leave provision – something that is still – it seems – not going to be addressed in the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill.
A watered down Employment Rights Bill
At one point, it was hoped that fathers would all get a ‘day-one’ right to paternity leave will – something which Lloyd Hunter said would start to redress the fact that paternity leave is still woefully under-used. But this will reportedly no longer be included in new employment rights legislation – something Lloyd Hunter and other critics have been vocal about:
“The aim of the strike is to really draw attention to the fact that currently, statutory leave for dads is bad,” he says. “It’s bad for dads, it’s bad for mums, and it’s bad for the economy as a whole.” He says: “It forces mothers into becoming the primary care giver by default, and it reinforces the male stereotype of needing to be the primary bread winner.” Adds Lloyd Hunter: “This has to be challenged.
An already poor state of affairs
Britons already have some of the worst provision of paternity leave globally, with eligible UK fathers and non-birthing parents currently only getting two weeks off, and on less than half the minimum wage.
Statutory leave for dads is bad. It’s bad for dads, it’s bad for mums, and it’s bad for the economy as a whole
It means, according The Dad Shift’s own research, that the average British father spends 57% fewer waking hours with their child in the first year of life – some 1,403 hours compared to the 3,293 hours the average mother devotes.
Amongst other things, Lloyd Hunter is calling for employers to give all dads six weeks’ off at 90% pay. “This is our bare minimum request,” he says. “It’s based on the fact the average time off in Europe is eight weeks’ off, at 100% pay.
