Four days of paternity leave: Should men get more days off?

Jeff* and his wife recently welcomed their long awaited baby. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to fully enjoy their little bundle of joy because of his demanding job. “After the happiness of bringing a child into the world, only ansiety filled my heart knowing that I couldn’t spend enough time with my son and wife. My job is demanding. I can only leave school at 9pm when all activities in the school are closed,” Jeff said. “I really feel like my baby needs to be with me a lot more to bond as father and son. Unfortunately I’m the bread winner and my son has a lot of necessities which only my job can provide,” he added in a sad tone. Jeff urges that the three day leave he was given was not enough to take care of his wife who needed him a lot. The law is stacked against men Women enjoy a post-baby leave that men can only dream about. The Labour Law states that: ‘The mother with no maternity insurance coverage shall, during her first six weeks of maternity leave, has the right to her entire salary. During the last six weeks of her maternity leave, this mother may resume work and receive her full salary or have the right to 20% of her salary’. Men, on the other hand, are allowed a lot fewer days. According to law on General Statuses for Rwanda Public service (Law number 22/2002 of 09/07/2002) Article 46, “The Government employee benefits from an incidental leave of four (4) working days for the male employee’s delivery by the spouse.” Hon. Ignatienne Nyirarukundo, the Deputy Chairperson of Chamber of Deputies Standing Committee on Social Affairs says that a four days paternity leave for men is enough. “These days, women spend only two days in hospital and they are back at home. So men don’t really need more than four days. We are also studying cases where the baby loses the mum and is left with the dad. Soon, a concrete law will also be passed to cover that,” she said. New mothers undecided about whether men should stay home longer Jacky Uwamahoro, a mother of three, says fathers presence is very important at the time when a woman has just given birth. “I gave birth by caesarean section and times were really tough especially when it came to movement. I would feel a lot of pain and standing up or sitting up was hard. I really needed my husband because I couldn’t rely on the maid all the time. A maid cannot have the same kind of care my husband has for our baby,” she said. “The few hours my husband was home eased my load and gave me time to rest. If he had a longer leave, life with my baby during those first months would have been much easier,” she concluded. While some women feel the need to have their husbands close, others feel that paternity leave would be a total waste of time. Gloria*, (not real name) says at the time when she gave birth to her first born, she had her mum and sister around so her husband didn’t need a paternity leave. “He was entitled to a three day leave which he got. But never at any one time did I see him home, unless we had visitors. He only came home to sleep. I don’t think if they gave him a six weeks leave he would do anything significant for our new born,” she said. “The law needs no amendments” Whereas there are some men who wish they had the chance to stay with their babies all day, some think that the little time they have at home is enough to bond with the baby. Mark Muganza, a business man at Kigali City Towers, and father of a three months’ old baby says the three day leave is enough. “Women have six weeks to look after the baby on paid leave. I get back home at 7pm and I’m with my wife (who also has a maid) until 7am in the morning. The maid helps in any way that she can and I get to play with my baby in the evening,” he argued “A baby with a maid, her mother and a working father is quite normal and will grow up to be a normal child with a proper family. This issue has already been properly addressed and needs no amendment,” he observed.

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Four days of paternity leave: Should men get more days off?