Current proposals are being discussed by the UK Government to provide more flexibility around parental leave for fathers and mothers. Is this just another burden for employers or the logical next step to creating equality in our society?
The proposals, if brought into force, would allow full maternity leave to be taken by either the father or the mother. So in effect, the mother would just be required to take off the first two weeks after childbirth and could then transfer the full year entitlement to the father so that she could return to work and he could care for the child.
We live in a world now where sometimes the mother may be the higher earner and she may well want to return to her job sooner for a variety of reasons, such as not to damage her career prospects. On the other side, the father may well want to have more of an active role in bringing up the child. This proposal, therefore gives flexibility to employees and family units to manage their own lives as it best suits them.
As well as making life easier for families, it will, over time, help to remove some of the barriers which still exist in the workplace for women. Although it may take a number of years before men start to take this up in large numbers, once it becomes the norm it will definitely help to eliminate barriers and prejudice that exist, most specifically the concerns that some employers have that females are going to go and have children quite soon after starting with their company. Whilst direct discrimination of this kind against women is protected by the Equality Act, only with a move like this will we be able to radically change the opinions of some employers who may subconsciously overlook females for a position due to this very fear. Of course, without this kind of discrimination employers will not have to worry about facing potentially costly Employment Tribunals.
No doubt, employers will see it as an added burden and additional cost to begin with but over time everyone will adjust to it. There are lots of things that have come in over the years that at the time we’ve considered quite controversial but, over time, we’ve realised they actually fit quite well into our society.
For those employers that have a particularly female workforce they may welcome it, whilst those with a predominantly male workforce may think of it only as a burden. Yet for those where the demographics are more evenly split, which is becoming more and more the norm, it won’t have any impact at all.
Ultimately this is the point we want to get to, where gender isn’t an issue in either way. Where we see a more balanced workforce and where skills and experience rule out any need to look at categorisation of any kind. Increasingly we don’t have to have stereotypically male and female roles. Moreover the ways in which we work are changing.
Not only does it make perfect sense to provide flexibility to everyone so that they can excel both at work and at home, everyone should be given the opportunity to live and work on an even playing field.
Heidi Thompson
HR Consultant, Workplace Law
Workplace Law is a specialist in employment law and health & safety; an established market leader in the provision of information, training, consultancy and HR support services, we help organisations go beyond compliance in the workplace and build a better future.
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