THE FIGURES SPEAK: CO-RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CARE OF CHILDREN BETWEEN FATHERS AND MOTHERS, STILL FAR AWAY

The interuniversity research project 'Promotion of work and family balance from companies', carried out by the National University of Distance Education (UNED), has studied during the years 2015 to 2018 the family and business conditions that allow men to get involved in The care of their children.

Among its conclusions: there are still important differences in work permits for parents, such as leave and reduction of working hours, although the figures for Use of paid maternity and paternity leave are very similar between men and women.

The study, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and directed by the professor of the Department of Sociology, Teresa Jurado Guerrero, is part of the national and interuniversity project Implica.

According to the study, the differences in gender reconciliation are greater when there is labor and economic damage for the parent, which means that women are more willing to prioritize the care of their children over their projection at work.

80 percent of parents make use of paid paternity leave.
Only 4.1% of men, compared to 25% of mothers, decide to benefit from the reduction in working hours for the care of a child better than 12 years.
Only 0.4% of parents with children under 8 years of age request paid temporary leave of absence compared to 11% of mothers.

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50% of the mothers and 46% of the parents make use of the flexible hours at the entry and exit of work, very similar.
Only 3.5% of fathers and mothers opt for teleworking as a conciliation measure.

Reasons for men not to reconcile

According to the conclusions of the study:

The companies themselves often do not favor the application of the necessary measures to achieve conciliation.
The reluctance of the parents involved not to benefit from unpaid leave or reduced working hours for fear of being penalized.
A tacit attitude that prioritizes earning bread rather than caring, and most parents are less willing to lose income compared to women.

That is why parents are much more willing to use paternity leave, since it is paid in full, because that way their role as provider is not questioned and labor penalty is avoided.

But they send more other more complex roles, such as the ideal worker model that still prevails in organizational cultures and with gender roles, according to the conclusions of the study, since only 12 percent of the men who did not accept the Reduction of working hours was for economic reasons.

Purpose: reach a joint responsibility.

The extension of paternity leave to five weeks has positively influenced their use, says the director of the Center for Gender Studies at UNED, Teresa San Segundo.

But he adds that the decision of the Constitutional Court to sentence that the temporary difference with respect to those of maternity is not discriminatory "Does not contribute to progress towards equality".

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“Traditionally women have been dedicated to parenting. However, now equality is constitutionally recognized and even begins to be strictly applied at some times, for example in cases of divorce or separation in relation to shared custody, housing, etc. This aspect that could be considered positive hides an unfair reality, since it applies the principle of equality over a situation of inequality in which women have given up much more than men during their life as a couple ”.

That is one of the conclusions of San Segundo, which advocates for equality in maternity and paternity leave, but points out that in order for them to be effective in achieving co-responsibility between women and men:

"They must not be compatible in time except in the first moments after birth, as long as they are single births. The initial permit should be for the woman - to protect her health and recover - and then for the father or second parent, so that the bond with him is strengthened. ”

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Measures to facilitate co-responsibility

According to the Implica program, to which this study belongs:

Businesses should facilitate the involvement of men in care by giving them more time to care.
The State must regulate working hours, schedules, teleworking and parental leave to favor joint responsibility.
Men and women have to reconcile both employment and personal life.
Public policies must offer minimum income, benefits and services so that families can reconcile employment and personal life in a way that ensures child welfare.

What is clear, look where you look, is that there is still a long way to achieve co-responsibility of fathers and mothers in the care of children, and the results of this study reinforce this reality.

Hopefully the Government will keep its promises and 16-week paternity leave, such as maternity leave, is a reality for all parents, and not only in the Basque Country or for officials.